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[xvi], 487 pp. Woodcut illustration on title page. (4to) 20.2x15.8 cm. (8x5¾"), period blindstamped pigskin over vellum boards, lacking corner pieces and leather straps. First Edition.

Rauwolf (c. 1540 - 1596), was a German physician, botanist and traveler. He was a pupil of Guillaume Rondelet in 1560. In 1565 he set up a medical practice in Augsburg. In 1573 he visited Constantinople, in 1574 Baghdad, and in 1575 he was in Jerusalem. Rauwolf was the first botanist of the new era who had traveled this far into Asia. Written from the point of view of an early Protestant pilgrim, his depictions of Jerusalem and of religious life, both Christian and Muslim, are of particular historical value. "He was the first modern botanist to collect and describe the flora of the regions east of the Levantine coast" (Norman). The fourth part, containing woodcuts of Asian plants, not present in this copy.