Basil Besler
Basilius Besler , also Basil Besler (born February 13, 1561 in Nuremberg ; † March 13, 1629 ibid), was a German pharmacist , botanist and publisher. Its official botanical author abbreviation is " Besler ".
Life
Besler ran the “Zum Marienbild” pharmacy in Nuremberg and had its own botanical garden and a natural history cabinet .
In 1597 the Bishop of Eichstätt , Johann Konrad von Gemmingen , commissioned him to create a botanical garden on the site of Willibaldsburg . He laid out the garden on eight terraces on a site with a size of about one hectare. He made use of the support of botanists Joachim Camerarius , Ludwig Jungermann and Carolus Clusius , who had already laid out the Residenzgarten in Vienna. The garden in Eichstätt soon became famous in wide circles.
The plants in the Eichstätter Garden were the starting point for the famous Hortus Eystettensis (published in Eichstätt and Nuremberg in 1613), a Baroque plant book that Besler was commissioned to publish. The book deals with a total of 1084 plants on 367 copper engravings on 850 pages. Since Besler himself was not a botanist, he had won Ludwig Jungermann as a co-author . His work is one of the great treasures of botanical literature. In terms of the number and quality of the panels, it surpasses all corresponding contemporary works. It is the first Florilegium to refer to a single garden. The work was published in several editions and in various configurations (black and white, colored, with and without text). A beautiful colored ribbon weighing 14 kg cost as much as a stately home. There are still around 28 copies of the work around the world.
Honor taxon
Charles Plumier named the genus Besleria of the Gesneria family (Gesneriaceae) in his honor . Carl von Linné later took over this name.
literature
- Basilius Besler: The garden of Eichstätt . Reprint after the hand-colored first edition (1613) with a foreword by Werner Dressendörfer and KW Littger. Taschen, Cologne 2000, ISBN 3-8228-6576-1
- Georg Löhlein: Besler, Basilius. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 2, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1955, ISBN 3-428-00183-4 , p. 178 ( digitized version ).
Web links
- Literature by and about Basilius Besler in the catalog of the German National Library
- Publications by and about Basilius Besler in VD 17 .
- Author entry and list of the described plant names for Basilius Besler at the IPNI
- Digitized by Hortus Eystettensis , 1613 (University of Strasbourg)
- Digitized Fasciculus rariorum et aspectu dignorum varii generis , 1616 (University of Strasbourg)
- Digitized Continuatio rariorum et aspectu dignorum varii generis , 1622 (University of Strasbourg)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Lotte Burkhardt: Directory of eponymous plant names - Extended Edition. Part I and II. Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin , Freie Universität Berlin , Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-946292-26-5 doi: 10.3372 / epolist2018 .
- ^ Charles Plumier: Nova Plantarum Americanarum Genera . Leiden 1703, p. 29
- ^ Carl von Linné: Critica Botanica . Leiden 1737, p. 92
- ↑ Carl von Linné: Genera Plantarum . Leiden 1742, p. 296
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Besler, Basil |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German doctor, botanist and publisher |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 13, 1561 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Nuremberg |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 13, 1629 |
| Place of death | Nuremberg |