Book of Palms: Carl Friedrich von Martius
Martius: The Book of Palms - Published by Taschen
Written by H. Walter Lack is Director at the Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin-Dahle
Taschen don't do anything by half, especially this stunning book. Everything about the book is impressive, from the custom made box it arrives in, to the size (32 x 44 cms) and the gorgeous illustrations contained in more than 400 pages.
The illustrations were made by the great Carl Friedrich von Martius during his travels around Brazil early in the 19th century. They must have been utterly extraordinary to European scholars at the time, who would have known so little about Brazil at all, let alone the palms therein. Many of the illustrations remind me of the work of the great Thomas Baines, who travelled around Southern Africa some 40 years later.
Featuring one of the finest works on botany of all time, this book is based on Martius's expedition to Brazil and Peru with zoologist Johann Baptist von Spix, sponsored by King Maximilian I of Bavaria, to investigate natural history and tribal Indians. From 1817 to 1820 the pair travelled over 2,250 km (1,400 miles) throughout the Amazon Basin, the most species-rich palm region in the world, collecting and sketching specimens. On their return both men were awarded knighthoods and lifetime pensions.
Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius (1794-1868), Professor of Botany at the University of Munich and director of the Royal Botanic Garden, was carried to his grave in a coffin covered with fresh palm leaves. These were a reference to his groundbreaking Historia naturalis palmarum: opus tripartitum (Natural History of Palms: a work in three volumes), published between 1823-1853. At the time, this encyclopedic treasury contained the sum of human knowledge on the topic, and included 240 exquisite chromolithographic illustrations, including landscape views of palm habitats and botanical dissections.
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| Martius often painted a whole scene rather than just the palms. |
In his epic work, Martius outlined the modern classification of palm, produced the first maps of palm biogeography, described all the palms of Brazil, and collated the sum of all known genera of the palm family. For apart from his own collection of specimens and notes, Martius also wrote about the findings of others. Martius's folio is unusual in its inclusion of cross-sectioned diagrams, conveying the architecture of these mighty trees, which central Europeans would have found hard to imagine accurately. Equally remarkable are the color landscapes showing various palms - often standing alone - which have a simple and elegant beauty. This famous work is an unrivaled landmark in botanic illustration and taxonomy.
RRP £99 but available from Amazon for around £60.
To buy from Amazon, click Martius, Book of Palms
A couple of the pages from the book.
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