Fig Journal — Ehret 1750 Plantae Selectae & Macfarlane 1872 Ficus Carica Botanical Engraving

In 1750, Georg Dionysius Ehret engraved Plate 74 for Plantae Selectae — the monumental botanical work commissioned by the Nuremberg physician Christoph Jakob Trew — and titled it “Fructificatio Ficus carica Linn.”: not a portrait of the fig but a dissection, 57 distinct segments showing flowers and fruits at every stage of development, each opened to reveal the hidden architecture of the syconium; the front cover features J. Macfarlane’s coloured zincograph of Ficus carica (c.1872) — a fruiting stem with whole and halved fruit revealing the honeyed interior, framed by ornate Victorian botanical borders — while the back presents Ehret’s Plate 74: the fig not contemplated but comprehended, opened, sectioned, and mapped with the precision of a botanical scalpel.

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Product Details:

• Format: Hardcover journal with matte laminated full-wrap cover
• Pages: 150 lined pages (75 sheets) with perforations for easy removal
• Binding: Casewrap sewn binding that lays flat and flexes for comfortable writing
• Dimensions: 5.75 × 8 inches (14.6 × 20.3 cm), lightweight and portable
• Paper: 90 gsm, suitable for fountain pens and pencils
• Weight: 250 g (0.55 lbs)
• Cover: Macfarlane 1872 Ficus carica zincograph (front) & Ehret 1750 Plantae Selectae Plate 74 anatomical dissection (back), matte finish; small 0.5"×0.5" production barcode on back

Perfect For:

• Botanists and botanical artists studying fruit morphology and syconium anatomy
• Gardeners cultivating fig trees and documenting Mediterranean heritage plants
• Cooks and preservers recording seasonal fig recipes and culinary traditions
• Mediterranean travelers journaling through Italy, Greece, and sun-soaked landscapes
• Art historians and collectors of 18th-century botanical engraving
• A thoughtful gift for lovers of Ehret’s botanical art and Enlightenment-era natural history