Small Taschen

Art meets science in this beautiful catalogue of botanical illustration. Drawn from the archives of the National Library of Vienna, these exquisite color reproductions range from 6th-century manuscripts to 19th-century masterpieces and celebrate both the skill of botanical artists and the abundance of natural flora.

In 367 exquisite plates, this treasure of botanical literature records the flowers of the palatial grounds at Eichstätt, Bavaria, once some of the most beautiful gardens in history. The illustrations are organized by season and, following the classification system used today, show plants belonging to a total of 90 families and covering 340 genera.

Meet “the Raphael of flowers,” botanical painter Pierre-Joseph Redouté. This book, adapted from our XL edition, gathers the finest engravings from Redouté’s most important works, including Selection of the Most Beautiful Blooms and Branches with the Finest Fruits. The images recall the greenhouses and gardens of Paris in the early 1800s.