Descrizione

Wien, Rudolf Sammer, 1851. Folio (39.6 x 26.2 cm). Title page with plate explanations on verso; 16 large, finely hand-coloured engraved plates. Later marbled wrappers. = Important and very rare work on mushrooms living on trees, written by the Austrian botanist Leopold Trattinnick (1764-1849), curator of the k.k. Hof-Naturaliencabinete from 1809 to 1835. Several species were named and described by the author, others by Persoon, and Fries. According to Stafleu and Cowan (VI: pp. 436, 441), Trattinnick sold wax models of mushrooms. The publisher, Sammer, took the plates from the estate, hence the posthumous publication. The plates were drawn by Frister, Schmid, Strenzel, and others, and engraved by Leitner. According to Volbracht, who copied a plate (one of the few plates thought important enough to fill a whole page of his Myko Libri!), this work is "Sehr Selten" [very rare]. There is also a plain edition, but this is the rare and finely coloured one, producing some stunning plates. Stafleu and Cowan, 14890; Volbracht, 2122.