A New Book about the Birth and Fate of a Unique Collection of Plant Drawings

The new book Tracing a Cultural Historical Treasure: Konrad Gessner’s Plant Drawings at the University of Tartu Library presents an engaging overview of the birth and fate of the unique collection of plant drawings made by Konrad Gessner, a universal Swiss scholar of the 16th century, and introduces the part of the collection which arrived in the UT Library in 1804.

For the scholarly world, this collection has mostly appeared as an undiscovered gem. This year, Switzerland celebrates the 500th anniversary of Konrad Gessner, an outstanding botanist, zoologist, theologian, philologist and lexicographer, bibliographer, collector and drawer with scholarly conferences and exhibitions.

Mare Rand, the author of the book, is a long-time staff member of the UT Library Manuscripts and Rare Books Department.

The book can be bought at the library.

Information:
Malle Ermel,
Head of the Manuscripts and Rare Books Dept., UT Library
phone 737 5744
e-mail: malle.ermel@ut.ee