Johann de Brys Florilegium Novum Original Copperplate Engraving - Antique Print

'IRISES' copper engraving made in 1611 by Johann Theodor de Bry

Johann Theodor de Bry (1561 - 1623) worked as both publisher and engraver within a family of engraver-publishers. His famous work "Florilegium Novum" was first published in 1612 and 1626 in Oppenheim and is one of the most beautiful German flower books of the 17th century.  This book with its handsomely engraved plates was among the most famous flower books of the period demonstrating skillful botanical plate work.  De Bry filled each page with the specimen he wished to illustrate, creating impact and drama for the readers.  In response to its great popularity an expanded edition of the work was published in 1641 by Matthäus Merian the Elder, De Bry's son in law: Florilegium renovatum et auctum "A renewed and expanded collection of various and extremely rare seeds, flowers, and plants, praised for their beauty, fragrance, usefulness, variety, and distinctive characteristics. Not only those known to us here, but also those unknown to antiquity and the old world, brought forth from its fertile bosom. Exquisite illustrations, rendered with the utmost care from life, provided with their own true and authentic names." Merian was a gifted Swiss engraver who worked in various cities throughout France before re-locating to work for the De Brys. After De Bry's death in 1623, Merian took over his publishing house. Merian was the father of Maria Sibylla Merian, who became a an exceptional artist/naturalist in her own right.