A RARE NATURALIST’S TREASURE AND A BOOK COLLECTOR’S DELIGHT – Nordlinger’s Querschnitte von Hundert Holzarten

 

Note: All items pictured on this website are in the personal collection of Frank W. Reiser. Please contact me if you wish to discuss displaying the collection at your institution or need additional information about the topic.
Querschnitte von Hundert Holzarten, by Hermann von Nordlinger, One Hundred sections of Wood
Querschnitte von Hundert Holzarten (Voume I), by Hermann von Nordlinger, Cota, Stuttgart, 1852

 A RARE NATURALIST’S TREASURE AND A BOOK COLLECTOR’S DELIGHT

Hermann Nordlinger (1818 – 1891) dedicated a lifetime to collecting thin slices of wood from every type of tree on Earth he could obtain. His goal was to assemble and distribute a collection of over a thousand species useful for botanists, forestry students, furniture makers, and anyone else interested in the identification and properties of timber. At the time, the standard method for studying the physical characteristics of different woods involved using wooden reference blocks from known tree species. However, an assemblage of blocks was heavy, cumbersome, and challenging to store, transport, and organize. Researchers had to travel to the facilities that housed these collections, and due to the space required, there were few.

Querschnitte von Hundert Holzarten, by Hermann von Nordlinger,
Selected pages from Nordlinger’s 100 Crossections of Wood. The oval window provides viewing of the specimen without opening the protective envelope. The pages are 9×12 centimeters.

As a professor of forestry education, Nordlinger sought to find a more effective method. He believed that the properties of wood could be learned well using representative paper-thin cross-sectional slices shaved from the wood of trees. Nordlinger’s approach was to provide students with experiential information about various wood species while significantly reducing the size and weight of a hundred trees to that of a library book.

Querschnitte von Hundert Holzarten, by Hermann von Nordlinger, 100 cross sections of wood
Querschnitte von Hundert Holzarten, by Hermann von Nordlinger, Title page printed using Old German Blacktype.

The first book-sized issue toward meeting Nordlinger’s goal was titled Querschnitte von Hundert Holzarten (Cross-Sections of One Hundred Tree Species). The volume contained one hundred wood cross-sections, each approximately three by one inch in area and only one-hundredth of an inch in thickness. Each specimen was delicate and placed within a protective folded paper envelope with an oval viewing port on one side. These envelopes served as the book’s pages.

Nordlinger exhibited samples of these pages, along with the wood blocks from which they were cut, at worldwide fairs held in London. The first fair was the famous Crystal Palace exhibition in 1851. His wood sections received commendations from the event’s Award’s Committee and that motivated Nordlinger to continue the project for thirty-six years, issuing the first book form volume in 1852 and continuing until the final eleventh volume in 1888 completed the set of “Querschnitte von Hundert Holzarten ” The full set held 1,100 species and varieties of woody plants collected from around the world. Remarkably, Nordlinge achieved his goal of having the entire eleven-volume collection, compiled from 1,100 different types of trees, occupy only a yard of library shelf space. Even more remarkably, Nordlinger produced and distributed five hundred of the eleven-volume sets, for a “slam-bang” total of 550,000 wood transsections. His monumental nineteenth-century achievement is unlikely ever to be replicated.

A transverse section of Cuprea alba. Lifting on edge shows the specimen is glued to the page at the opposite edge. The wood samples are approximately three by one inch in area and only one-hundredth of an inch in thickness. They are too fragile to be detached from the page that protects them.

Over a century later, the world remembered little of Nordlinger’s work until Ben Bubner, in the 2008 edition of the Journal of the International Association of Wood Analysts, cast new light on Nordlinger’s extensive dendrological contributions. Bubner’s research not only highlighted the scientific value and uniqueness of Nordlinger’s Querschnitte von Hundert Holzarten but also informed scholars about the rarity of Nordlinger’s quickly disappearing collections. (Bubner 2008) Today, the World Catalog of Books lists only nine complete eleven-volume sets available worldwide. Bubner’s inquiries have revealed that of those, most have some damage or missing pages. The current scarcity of the collection underscores the delicate balance existing between preservation and use, as these pages of wood are both a valuable educational resource and a fragile artifact of nineteenth-century natural history.

Nordlinger’s Life From His Obituary.

In 1842, Hermann von Nordlinger emerged as a qualified forestry officer, launching a remarkable career that shaped modern forestry science. After honing his expertise at the renowned School of Forestry in Nancy, France, he took up a professorship at the École Régionale d’Agriculture de Grand-Jouan, where he lectured and published extensively in French. His academic journey continued in Germany, where he revolutionized forestry education at Wurtenberg and Tübingen by introducing rigorous preliminary exams in mathematics and natural sciences—mirroring his own multidisciplinary training.
Nordlinger’s influence extended beyond academia. As co-head of the Royal Württemberg Forestry Research Station and founder of the Württemberg Forestry Association in 1876, he bridged the gap between theory and practice. His research on wood properties, forest protection, and botany—culminating in the acclaimed 11-volume 100 Querschnitte (1852–1882)— Remains a cornerstone of the field. Initially published in 1855 by Cotta of Stuttgart, this hands-on collection provided students with an unparalleled opportunity to study various types of wood.
The University of Tubingen – where Hermann von Nordlinger was a both a graduate and professor. Postcard circa 1906. Sending many warm memories from the Universities of Tubingen

Nordlinger’s efforts also touched wildlife conservation, notably through his support for the Reich Bird Protection Act. After a career spanning professorships, research leadership, and administrative roles—interrupted briefly by health challenges—he retired in 1891 from the University of Tübingen.

Born into a forestry family, Nordlinger’s passion was ignited at an early age. His studies across Stuttgart, Tübingen, and Hohenheim, combined with practical experience, fueled a lifelong dedication to understanding the technical properties of timber and forest ecosystems. His work not only advanced forestry but also inspired practical applications from shipbuilding to environmental protection. (Rossler 1999)

 Jakob Briem (1824 – 1890) — The Man Behind the Blade

Bubner, while investigating Nordlinger’s written correspondences at the Cotta Archives in Stuttgart, revealed that Jakob Briem was the skilled technician responsible for producing the paper-thin wood sections used in Nordlinger’s books over many years. After Briem died in 1890, six years before Nordlinger retired, work on the books ceased. The correlation substantiates the claim that Briem played a crucial role in the physical preparation of the wooden slices Nordlinger used for his books. (Bubner, 2008).

Jakob Briem was a woodturner—an artisan trained in tooling wood using a lathe. Wood lathes are machines that spin a shaft of lumber while the worker applies specialized tools, such as chisels and cutting blades, to shape the wood. Woodturners create furniture legs, spindles, and other detailed wooden components. The craft requires a deep understanding of the structural tendencies of various woods, including the potential for splitting, curling, warping, and shrinking. By accommodating these physical traits, woodturners can determine how different types of wood may be cut, shaped, and preserved. Jacob Briem’s expertise enabled Nordlinger to successfully apply thin-slicing techniques to various wood species, many of which had never been manipulated in such a manner before.

How Nordlinger viewed his work from the introduction to Querschnitte von Hundert Holzarten

In the introductory pamphlet for Querschnitte von Hundert Holzarten, Nordlinger explains his reasons for creating a collection of wood shavings as a teaching aid to help students recognize tree species from small pieces of wood. He discourages using microscopes, stating that “they are too time-consuming and that students are unlikely to have access to such instruments in the future.” Additionally, Nordlinger argues that the illustrations provided by professors are often not lifelike and, hence, easily forgotten. Due to the limitations of classroom time, he believes that learning the fine details of thin sections for identifying types of trees should be done independently by the student. Therefore, Querschnitte von Hundert Holzarten will facilitate gradual familiarization with the material over time and is intended to be retained by the student as a reference later in life. Nordlinger refers to his previous attempts at providing wood sections to students, explaining why they are mounted inside a folded sheet of paper. He emphasizes that the pages should remain folded during close inspection, especially when using a lens. He describes the sections with loving terms such as “tenderness” and “delicacy.” He adds that the pages should always be kept together in the provided case; otherwise, they may begin to curl. If this happens, they will need to be moistened and weighted down while drying. Nordlinger concludes the introduction by requesting the readers to send him wood sections, as certain tree species are becoming rare in Europe. He requests specimens that are 4 to 5 inches thick and up to five feet long. The bark should be left on the specimens, and ideally, they should be cut and shipped during the winter months. (Nordlinger 1852)

A Xylotheque. The collection of different species of trees held at the Nancy School of Forestry,
The Xylarium at the Nancy School of Forestry, France. A collection of samples cut from the trunks of different species of trees, where students could study the identification and properties of various types of lumber. 

 

The Xylotheque Collection at the Wood Research Museum, Forschungslaboratorium
The Xylotheque Collection at the Wood Research Museum, Forschungslaboratorium Holz, Munich, Germany. Credit: Michaela Eder, Technische Universität München

An important question librarians needed to clarify to catalog a xylotheque. Should a book holding a collection of actual wood be treated as a herbarium or a literary work? The term for a book actually made out of wood is a “xylotheque.”  From a physical design standpoint, the work fits neatly on a bookshelf, alongside other books of science and art. Functionally, however, it is a true collection of plant specimens intended for scientific study in its own right, akin to a herbarium’s preserved flora. The Holzforschung München Library at the Technical University of Munich houses one of the world’s largest xylotheque collections currently open to the public. The Holzforschung classifies their individual holdings as “compilations” within their xylotheque collections, suggesting a dual identity where literary and scientific interests converge. (available at https://www.ls.tum.de/en/hfm/tum-research-laboratory-wood/xylotheque/)

How to footnote this page: Reiser, Frank (2025)

Acknowledgment

Special thanks to Natalija Galacheva Dimitrieva for skillfully translating German written in Old-German Blackletter font into contemporary English.

References

Bubner, Ben (2008) The Wood Cross Sections Of Hermann Nordlinger (1818–1897) IAWA Journal, Vol. 29 (4), 439–457 (Journal of the International Association of Wood Analysts)

Graner, Freidrich (1897) Zum Andenken an Oberforstrat Dr. Hermann von Nördlinger. (In memory of Chief Forestry Officer Dr. Hermann v. Nördlinger) Forstw. Cbl. 19:291–297. 

Nordlinger, Hermann V. (1855) 60 Sections Transverales for the École Impériale Forestière de Nancy, text by A. Mathieu. Cotta, Stuttgart and Tubingen

Nordlinger, Hermann V. (1851) Querschnitte von Hundert Holzarten, Stuttgart and Tubingen

Rösler, Rudolf, (1999) Nördlinger, Hermann von” in: Neue Deutsche Biographie 19 (1999), S. 316-317 [online version]; URL: https://www.deutschebiographie.de/pnd117038601.html#ndbconten