Text-fig. 25. “Caryophyllata” = Geum, Avens [Brunfels, Herbarum vivæ eicones, Vol. III. 1540]. Reduced.
Text-fig. 26. Hieronymus Bock or Tragus, 1498-1554 [Engraving by David Kandel. Kreuter Bůch, 1551].
Text-fig. 27. “Erdberen” = Fragaria, Strawberry [Bock, Kreuter Bůch, 1546].
Bock’s great work is the ‘New Kreutterbuch,’ a herbal which first appeared in 1539, printed at Strasburg by Wendel Rihel. In subsequent editions the title was abbreviated to ‘Kreuter Bůch.’ The first edition was without illustrations, but a second, containing many wood-cuts, followed in 1546. The majority of the figures are said to have been copied on a reduced scale from those in Fuchs’ magnificent herbal, which appeared in 1542, between the first and second editions of Bock’s work. Fuchs’ figures must have been used with great discretion, for the plagiarism is often not obvious (see Text-figs. [27], [90], [91]). A considerable number of the figures are new, being drawn and engraved by David Kandel, whose initials appear on the portrait of Bock, reproduced in Text-fig. [26]. The wood-cuts of trees in the third part of the book are particularly noticeable (see Text-figs. 28 and 92) and are often made more interesting by the introduction of figures of men and animals.
Bock’s chief claim to remembrance, however, does not lie in his figures, but in his descriptions, which were a great advance on those previously published. He was careful also to note the mode of occurrence and localities of the plants mentioned, and in this feature his work showed some approach to a flora in the modern sense of the word. Bock seems to have been a keen collector, although hampered by ill-health, and a great point in his favour is that he described only those plants which had come under his own personal observation. The Royal Fern (Osmunda) was traditionally supposed to bear seed upon St. John’s Eve, though ferns were generally believed at that time to have no organs of fructification. To test this statement, Bock four times spent the night in the forest. He found “small black seed like poppy seed,” in spite of the fact that he “used no charm, incantation or magic character,” but went upon his search without superstition.