Leipzig: in de Schäferschen buchhandlung, 1803. A rare horticultural manual by Johann Heinrich Seidel, widely regarded as the "Father of Dresdener Horticulture." After completing his apprenticeship at the Großer Garten in Dresden in 1764, he embarked on a seven-year Gesellenwanderung though Germany, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, England and France. During his travels he spent significant time at Het Loo, the Jardin des Plantes, Chiswick, and Kew while building important contacts with head gardeners throughout Europe. After returning to Dresden and taking over as court gardener, Seidel used those contacts to build one of the most important plant collections of its day, reaching 4300 species by 1806. Many of the choicest of these plants are described in the text. Seidel was one of the first German gardeners to breed camellias, but he also had a particular interest in Chinese dwarf plants and devoted an entire short chapter at the end of the book to promoting their interest. The colour frontispiece shows a Chinese gardener carrying several potted dwarf shrubs and fruit trees balanced on a pole across his shoulder. The name F. G. Leonhardi also appears on the title page, but Leonhardi was an economist and historian who wrote books on a variety of subjects. He is unlikely to have made much contribution to the horticultural content of the work. It is surprisingly rare. OCLC locates only 4 copies, of which three in Germany and one in Denmark. KVK adds one more. By Johann Heinrich Seidel, the “Father of Dresdener Horticulture” 16mo (17.2 x 10.3 cm); viii + 259 + (4) pp. + colour frontispiece and 2 engraved plates.