First Photo in the Series
The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, founded in 1856, was a veterinary and agricultural science university in Copenhagen, Denmark, until its merger with the University of Copenhagen in 2007.
Surrounding the buildings, designed by Gottlieb Bindesbøll, are its unique gardens, which house a diverse collection of over 6,000 plants and flowers.
Salomon Thomas Nicolai Drejer
The series draws on a book by the Danish botanist Salomon Thomas Nicolai Drejer (born February 15th, 1813, Eveldrup; died June 10th, 1842, Copenhagen), published in 1838, at which point Drejer was 25 years old.
“Exergue. From philosophy, rhetoric. That is, here, to make from a volume, approximately, more or less, a flower, to extract a flower, to mount it, or rather to have it mount itself, bring itself to light – and turning away, as from itself, come round again, such a flower engraves – learning to cultivate, by means of a lapidary’s reckoning, patient . . .” — Derrida, in Alan Bass’s translation, Margins of Philosophy, 1971.
Also see: Copenhagen Photographer & Artist Kasper Bergholt
Flora Danica
From 1841 to 1842, Drejer served as editor of Flora Danica. He did not complete the work due to his untimely death from nicotine poisoning.
Drejer’s contribution to Flora Danica, one of the most comprehensive botanical atlases of the Enlightenment, was published posthumously in 1843 in collaboration with fellow botanists Joakim Frederik Schouw and Jens Vahl.
1838 Edition of ‘Flora Excursoria Hafniensis’
The book comprises 340 pages, including an unnumbered errata page at the very end. The photo shows a first edition from 1838, which I acquired about a year ago from Herman H.J. Lynge & Søn.
Both Latin and Danish names are provided in the index and species listings. The Danish ones often strikingly poetic: Agermaane, hjortetröst, hörsilke, natskygge, remslæbe, skovstjerne, troldurt, tusindfryd, vandkryber, vandnavle, vinterblomme og vedbend, for example.
Pale Blue Flowers, The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University’s Garden
