"Digitalis floribus"

Emanuel Sweert (1552-1612) was a Dutch florist employed by the Emperor Rudolf II who encouraged him to issue a botanical volume.  The resulting florilegium was actually an elaborately illustrated sale catalog. It was issued in Latin, German, English and French and was first distributed at the flower fairs in Frankfurt and Amsterdam in 1612.  The decorative engravings in the catalogue enabled Sweert"s customers to see what his plants would look like when they were in bloom. Florilegium Amplissimum et Selectissimum contains 110 decorative engravings depicting upwards of five hundred plants and flowers including tulips, lilies, primroses, narcissi, cyclamen and newly introduced exotics.