Basilius Besler’s ‘Hortus Eystettensis’ is generally considered to be one of the most important and most beautiful florilegia ever published. It was commissioned by the Prince-Bishop Johann Conrad von Gemmingen in 1606, whose castle overlooked Eichstatt, a town to the south of Nuremberg. The garden was begun by Joachim Camerarius the younger (1534-98) in 1596 and was completed by Basilius Besler, a pharmacist from Nuremberg who also owned a fine garden and a collection of scientific curiosities. Within a few years the gardens of Eichstatt had become one of the most renowned in Europe.