Some highlights from the collections

The Tulip Book of P. Cos, 1637 One of the rarest and most valuable books in the Special Collections department is the unique 'Tulip Book' dating from 1637, by the nurseryman P. Cos of Haarlem. Read more about this 'Tulip Book' or click on the image to leaf through the electronic version.

Tulip Portal Naar Speccol Haal diashow op

Drawings of cattle, 1861-1869

This picture of a cow, a 'Vaalbonte Walcherse Melkkoe' comes from a collection of drawings and watercolors of cattle by A.H. Bakhuijzen (1861-1869).

In commodorum ruralium, 1490 The oldest book in the department is Petrus Crescentius' 'In commodorum ruralium', published in 1490. Orginally a 13th century manuscript, the text was found important enough that it was printed so early after the invention of bookprinting even in several editions.

Map of the Republic of the Seven United Provinces, ± 1700

A fine example from the collection of maps held by the department is this map of the republic of the seven united provinces, drawn by Casper Specht around the year 1700.

Germany's insects, ± 1800 A collection of about 3,000 small handcoloured prints of all German insects known around 1800. The series was set up by Georg Wolgang Franz Panzer (1735-1829) and Jakob Sturm (1771-1848) from 1793 till 1809 as Faunae insectorum Germanicae initia = Deutschlands insecten in 109 small volumes with 2640 plates. We also have an additional box of over 500 plates, partly from the second series (1823-1844) of 81 volumes by C. Geyer.

Wageningen Digital Library, 26 June, 2006