Hamburg (kk) - Carrying an estimate of € 25,000, the important "Andeutungen über Landschaftsgärtnerei ..." by the brilliant landscape architect and garden designer Prince Hermann Pückler-Muskau is to go under the hammer at the Ketterer Kunst auction of Rare Books - Manuscripts - Autographs - Decorative Prints to be held at Meßberg 1, Hamburg, on May 21 & 22, 2007.

Among the initiated, the eccentric nobleman, who, as an inveterate traveller and man of the world, a dilettante in the original sense of the term, was the hero of countless anecdotes, is regarded as a genius of landscape gardening and garden design. His development of the "English park" in his native Muskau and in Branitz is often mentioned before the creations of Lenné and Sckell. Pückler-Muskau’s designs for parks and grounds and those of his pupils are models ranking high on an international scale. They are indeed masterly achievements in the landscape gardening of 19th-century Europe. The first edition, published in 1834 and boasting plates in fine original colour, is one of the most important works on landscape gardening and garden design to have emerged from the Romantic period.

In the field of geography, the "Atlas" of Frederick de Wit, published c 1680 in Amsterdam, is another major work (estimate: € 20,000) on an ambitious scale.

Carrying a somewhat lower estimate at € 18,000, an ecclesiastical rarity is to go under the hammer: a first-edition of the "Ostrog Bible" was published by the Russian Orthodox Church as the sole authorised translation of the biblical texts. The celebrated work, which - like the Luther Bible and Tyndale’s translation into English, not to mention the King James Bible - exerted a strong normative effect on the Russian language and contributed substantially to the development of Old Church Slavonic, was printed by Ivan Fedorov, the 16th-century father of Russian printing, whose activity made itself felt throughout the entire eastern Slavic region.

Another highlight of the old prints section is the Jacobus Philippus de Bergamo "Supplementum chronicarum" (estimate: € 12,000). It contains four woodcuts of biblical scenes and 63 vedute, including the earliest* of Rome.

A splendid achievement in the field of medicine and a classic of the art of making books is the first modern anatomical treatise: Andreas Vesalius’ "De humani corporis fabrica libri septem". The work deals, of course, with dissecting the human body, of which it is the first complete and accurate description. The high point of the illustrations of this celebrated work (estimate: € 16,000) is a sequence of 14 full-page standing models, on which the muscle system is explained and demonstrated by removal of the layers of tissue one by one.

Apart from the rare work by Edoardo Cerillo on the Pompeian wall paintings (estimate: € 5,000), which were discovered and excavated in the 18th and 19th centuries, the auction has a great deal to offer bibliophiles interested in Russia, such as a very rare, complete set of plates entitled "Objets d’art décoratif recueillis dans les Palais Impériaux, Églises et Collections en Russie". The 65 chromolithographic plates depict clocks, candelabra, commodes and jewellery from Russian private collections, museums and Church treasuries. The estimate is € 4500.

Carrying double that estimate, an unusual collection of "Naturselbstdrucken" ["Prints from Nature"] is a privately printed (ca 1770) album of herbs from central Europe containing 168 prints, mainly of healing herbs and potager herbs as well as members of the rose and gooseberry families.

An exciting opportunity for aficionados of literature and livres d’artiste is bound to cause a sensation in the auction room when Charles Racine’s "Le Sujet est clairière de son corps", featuring eight original etchings by the distinguished Spanish sculptor and printmaker Eduardo Chillida, is called at € 5,000.

Pre-sale viewings of selected books are scheduled in Fasanenstrasse 70, Berlin, from May 2-5, 2007.

All books can be viewed on the following days at the times listed below at Meßberg 1, Hamburg:
9-11 May from 11 am-5 pm
14-16 May from 11 am-5 pm
18 May from 11 am-5 pm
and on 20 May by appointment.

Since it was founded in 1954, Ketterer Kunst has been firmly established in the front ranks of auction houses dealing in art and rare books. While the Munich headquarters in the Prinz-Alphons Palais is responsible for the two traditional annual auctions of Modern Art & Post War, the Meßberghof in Hamburg is the venue for two traditional auctions a year, each based on the following fields: Old Masters and 19th-Century Art /Marine Art and Rare Books - Autographs - Manuscripts - Decorative Prints as well as Modern Art & Post War, with a focus on works on paper. In addition, exhibitions, special and benefit auctions for charity as well as live auctions online are regular events at Ketterer Kunst.

Hamburg, April 5, 2007

* Lippmann: Wood-engraving, pp. 70-76