Ectypa vegetabilium (Relief copies of plants)

Professor of Medicine at the University of Leipzig and Director of the Leipzig Botanical Garden, Christian Gottlieb Ludwig made important contributions to the study of botany in Germany. Rather than using a woodblock or metal printing plate to illustrate the volume, Ludwig used the process of nature printing: he applied the plant itself, which he covered with a dark dust and then ran through the press. The powder appeared as outlines on the sheets, which were then colored by hand. Because the plants could not sustain this sort of treatment for long, the volume’s print runs were short, and consequently the book is rare. His Ectypa vegetabilium, published over four years in eight parts, with a series of 25 plates each, is considered one of the most important nature-printed books of the 18th century.