Stories Plants Tell, Flora Batava 1800-1934

In Juni 2023, a facsimile of the Flora Batava was published. In addition to all 2240 original plates, this reissue in one volume also contains 100 new stories from plant connoisseurs and admirers. Several WUR employees have contributed to this publication. The wide variety of themes and insights illustrates the continuing importance of a publication

In an article in the Arnhemse Courant “Delight of mother nature, a walk through Wageningen’s arboretum” (22 September 1948), mention is made of a special acquisition by the Rijkslandbouwhogeschool’s library, the predecessor of WUR Library: ‘And then this remarkable book ‘Flora Batava’ by J. C. Sepp and Son of 1800, in which the images have

The first 40 drawings for the Flora Batava were copied from the Flora Londinensis (William Curtis). Thereafter, the plants (specimens) were collected in the Netherlands and depicted by artists from life. This could be a long process because the drawings depict the plant parts from different life stages (e.g. the seeds, the flowers). This meant

The plants in the Flora Batava are described according to the system of Linnaeus. He described the rules for this system in Species Plantarum (1753). In the Plantarum Linneaus divided the vegetable kingdom into 24 classes, based on their reproductive organs. The system is based on the number and arrangement of male (stamens) and female

As is usual with these kinds of serial masterpieces in the 18th century, the publication was pre-subscribed and published in periodical issues. Interested parties could subscribe to the voluminous work in installments. The individual issues were bound into volumes by the subscribers themselves, for which Sepp supplied a title page and a foreword. Four or

The idea for the Flora Batava, an illustrated serial publication describing all plants in the wild in the Netherlands, came from the publisher family Sepp, a publisher also known for publishing serial works about birds (Nederlandsche Vogelen, 1770-1829) and insects (Beschouwing der wonderen Gods…, 1762-1860).  The father of Jan Christiaan Sepp (born around 1710 in