Theatrum Fungorum oft het tooneel der Campernoelien. Waer inne vertoont wort de gedaente, ken-teeckens, natuere, crachten, voetsel, deught ende ondeught; mitsgaders het voorsichtigh schoonmaken ende bereyden van alderhande Fungien.

An old book about mushrooms doesn’t sound particularly gripping. But hold on, the book in question is special. Published in 1675, Theatrum Fungorum by Franciscus van Sterbeeck was the first book to be dedicated entirely to fungi. Frans van Sterbeeck was a Flemish priest with a passion for botany, who lived in Antwerp in Belgium. In 1601, a now highly-collectible botany book called Rariorum Plantarum Historia addressed mushrooms along with many other plants, but van Sterbeeck made botanical history with his work.

The book was written in Dutch, rather than Latin, to be understood by the common man (such as farmers, kitchen servants and cooks), and offered valuable advice on what fungi were edible and what were poisonous. The author details 349 fungi and features copper engraved illustrations (one pictured at left, three pictured below). Theatrum Fungorum was inspired by an important manuscript on mushrooms called Code de l’Éscluse and that original document can be seen on display in Leiden University library in Holland.