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 REICHENOW, Anton (1847-1941) - After Gustav MÜTZEL (1839-1893)
Parrots of the world [Pl. 10]
[Pl. 10]. Kassel: Theodor Fischer, [1878-1883]. Lithograph, printed in colours, finished by hand, printed by Thomas Fischer. Very good condition apart from some overall light soiling. Sheet size: 15 3/8 x 10 3/4 inches.
A very fine image from Reichenow's 'Vogelbilder aus fernen Zonen': an excellent survey of the Parrots of the world.
A small masterpiece of composition, with multiple images beautifully balanced. The grouping is made logically by the region in which the birds are found, and Gustav Mützel (1839-1893) has with great skill depicted each subject in a characteristic pose, whilst still managing to both convey as much information about the bird as possible, and achieve the difficult task of making the whole composition as naturalistic and harmonious as possible.
Cf.BM (NH) IV, p.1670; cf.Nissen IVB 767; cf.Ripley/Yale p.238; cf.Wood p.532; cf.Zimmer p.514
#9621 $270.00  
 REICHENOW, Anton (1847-1941) - After Gustav MÜTZEL (1839-1893)
Parrots of the world [Pl. 16]
[Pl. 16]. Kassel: Theodor Fischer, [1878-1883]. Lithograph, printed in colours, finished by hand, printed by Thomas Fischer. Very good condition apart from some overall light soiling. Sheet size: 15 3/8 x 10 7/8 inches.
A very fine image from Reichenow's 'Vogelbilder aus fernen Zonen': an excellent survey of the Parrots of the world.
A small masterpiece of composition, with multiple images beautifully balanced. The grouping is made logically by the region in which the birds are found, and Gustav Mützel (1839-1893) has with great skill depicted each subject in a characteristic pose, whilst still managing to both convey as much information about the bird as possible, and achieve the difficult task of making the whole composition as naturalistic and harmonious as possible.
Cf.BM (NH) IV, p.1670; cf.Nissen IVB 767; cf.Ripley/Yale p.238; cf.Wood p.532; cf.Zimmer p.514
#9628$270.00
 REPTON, Humphry (1752-1818)
Sketches and Hints on Landscape Gardening. Collected from designs and observations now in the posession of the different noblemen and gentlemen, for whose use they were originally made. The whole tending to establish fixed principles in the art of laying out ground
London: printed by W. Bulmer & Co., sold by J. & J. Boydell and G. Nicol, [1794]. Oblong folio (10 1/4 x 14 inches). 10 hand-coloured aquatints engravings (1 folding, 3 double-page), each with one or more overslips, and 6 aquatint plates printed in black with a single tint added (4 with one or more overslips), 2 wood-engraved illustrations, 1 wood-engraved tailpiece, bound without the half title. Expertly bound to style in 18th-century half russia with early marbled paper-covered boards, the flat spine divided into six compartments by fillets and a greek-key roll, red morocco lettering-piece in the second compartment, the others alternately decorated with a large centrally-placed vase and flower spray tool, with foliate cornerpieces and a large centrally-placed goblet and birds tool with foliate cornerpieces, gilt edges. Provenance: early crowned 'C' monogram at foot of title.
First edition of the first of Repton's three great works on landscape gardening.
Humphry Repton was the main successor to Lancelot 'Capability' Brown as an improver of grounds for the English gentry in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. He was particularly noted for his 'Red Books'. These were produced for each individual client and were made up from a manuscript description of his proposed improvements bound with Repton's own watercolour drawings of the grounds, with his proposed alterations displayed on an overlay. The present work is made up to a large degree of extracts from the 'Red Books' of 57 houses which Repton had been called upon to 'improve'. A list of these houses, their location and their owners is given in a valuable two-page list towards the front of this volume. The work is broken down into various chapters: 'Concerning Buildings', 'Concerning Water', 'Concerning Approaches', etc. In each chapter Repton selects the relevant section from each 'Red Book' that is helpful to the point he is trying to make.
In addition to the specific ideas that he is trying to convey, Repton also enters the fray on behalf of 'Capability' Brown. The theoreticians, Payne Knight and Uvedale Price, had both written disparagingly of Brown's work and Repton here answers their arguments, a lengthy letter that Repton wrote to Price in July 1794 is quoted in full. The work ends with an intriguing list of sixteen 'Sources of pleasure in Landscape Gardening' and William Wyndham's letter to Repton in support of his theories: 'Places are not to be laid out with a view to their appearance in a picture, but to their uses, and the enjoyment of them in real life, and their conformity to those purposes is that which constitutes their true beauty: with this view gravel walks, and neat mown lawns... are in perfect good taste, and infinitely more conformable to the principles which form the basis of our pleasure in these instances, than the docks and thistles, and litter and disorder, that may make a much better figure in a picture'.
The plates echo the watercolours with which Repton invariably illustrated the 'Red Books'. He makes extensive use of movable flaps or 'slides' - generally to explain the effect he is trying to create by showing the property before his improvements (with the flap down) and after, with the flaps lifted. The quality of the aquatints is exceptional, and the folding view of the Duke of Portland's house Welbeck Abbey in Nottinghamshire is particularly interesting as it apparently shows Repton and his assistants at work on a survey of the estate.
Abbey Scenery 388; Archer 280.1; ESTC t073696; Henrey III, 1269; RIBA III, 405; Tooley 400
#17339$27,500.00
 RODRIGUES, João Barbosa (1842-1909)
Sertum palmarum Brasiliensium ou relation des palmiers nouveaux du Brésil découverts, décrits et dessinés d'après nature
Brussels: imprimerie typographique veuve Monnom, 1903. 2 volumes, broadsheet (24 x 16 3/4 inches). Half-titles. Photogravure portrait of the author, on india paper, mounted, 174 fine chromolithographed plates (26 views of whole trees, 148 botanical drawings of leaves and other details), all by J. Goffin fils after Rodrigues, 1p. printed facsimile of a document signed by 24 members of 2nd 'Congres Cientifico Latino Americano', occasional half-tone illustrations. Unbound as issued in original green cloth portfolios by Carabin-Schildknecht of Brussels, the cloth grained in imitation of cayman, aligator or snake skin, the upper covers with large onset red cloth panels elaborately blocked in gilt with an overall art nouveau design by Francois Wissaert of Brussels, incorporating the title, author's name and an emblematic scene featuring Amazonian Indians, cloth ties.
A fine copy of one of the two greatest works on the palm trees of Brazil, illustrated with spectacular semi-abstract images of almost 150 species
The plates divide naturally into two groups: the first smaller group is of views of entire trees, often in their natural setting. These have a naive immediacy and vitality that is charming. The second much larger group of detailed drawings follow the correct guidelines for technical botanical drawings, but, mainly as a result of the need to fold the large leaves to be depicted, they achieve a wonderful semi-abstract status that recalls the photographic work of Man Ray, or painterly images from artists ranging from Georgia O'Keefe to Victor Vasarely and the 'op art' of the sixties.
The book was the result of almost thirty years of field work by Barbosa Rodrigues, where, working under extreme conditions, he always tried to produce a record of the plants close to where he had found them. Following in the footsteps of Carl von Martius's Historia naturalis palmarum (Munich, 1823-50), Barbosa Rodrigues notes that he studied and described more than 100 species that were new and unknown to science. Barbosa Rodrigues, Brazilian born botanist and traveller, collected widely in Brazil between 1868 and 1897. Much of his early work was on orchids, and by 1869 he had completed over 800 plates and designs: this work was never published (the albums of drawings are now in the library of the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden), and he turned to the study of palms. As he notes in the introduction to the present work: 'Aux Orchidées j'ai sacrifié les joies de ma jeunesse, aux Palmiers les loisirs l'âge mûr' ['To Orchids I sacrificed the joys of my youth, to Palms the leisure of middle age']. He served as director of the Manaos botanical museum from 1883-1889, and was the first director of the botanical garden of Rio de Janeiro from 1889 until his death in 1909. Despite his almost ceaseless travelling within his own country, the only trip he ever made to Europe was to oversee the publication of the present work. That Barbosa Rodrigues should choose Belgium to publish his work is perhaps at first sight surprising, but Belgium in general, and Ghent and Brussels in particular were, at the time, world-renowned centres of excellence in the fields of botanical research and publishing. As the present work so ably demonstrates, a number of the best botanical chromolithographers in the world were then working in Brussels.
BM(NH) VI, p.57; Bosch Bibliotheca Brasiliana 579; Nissen BBI 1660; Stafleu & Cowan TL2 9358
#18535$60,000.00
 SELBY, Prideaux John (1788-1867)
Bewick's Swan [Plate XLVII]
[Edinburgh: 1819-1834]. Hand coloured engraving, finished with gum arabic. Printed on wove Whatman paper. Sheet size: 21 11/16 x 26 5/8 inches.
A beautiful print of a swan from John Selby's seminal bird book "Illustrations of British Ornithology."
Prideaux John Selby was a versatile gentleman naturalist. Born on 23 July 1788 in Alnwick, Northumberland, he inherited Twizell House and its estate in 1804, and throughout his life did not neglect his duties as a landowner, magistrate, High Sheriff, and then Deputy Lieutenant of Northumberland. He married Lewis Tabitha Mitford, the daughter of Bertram Mitford of Mitford Castle, Northumberland, in 1810, and by 1817 had a happy marriage, three daughters, and a house that had become a sort of upmarket staging-post for naturalists heading North and South along the nearby Great North Road. Visitors were to include John James Audubon (who gave Selby and his brother-in-law Robert Mitford lessons in drawing), Sir William Jardine (one of Selby's closest friends and a collaborator on various later works), John Gould, William Yarrell, H.E.Strickland, to name but a few.
Natural history and ornithology had been Selby's passions from youth, and Christine Jackson notes, in her excellent introduction to the Sotheby's catalogue of the sale of the Bradley Martin collection of Selby watercolours, that, besides "collecting and preserving birds, Selby had observed them in the field, making careful notes of their habitat and habits. At his leisure, he also sensitively colored drawings of them. With this accumulation of practical knowledge, specimens, and some drawings, Selby embarked in 1819 on an ambitious project to publish the most up-to-date, life-size illustrations of British birds.
Since he had an incomplete pictorial record of his birds, many remained to be drawn while publication of the parts of the work proceeded. The aim was to issue each part comprising twelve plates at regular intervals of six months. The size of the paper chosen was elephant folio (27" x 21½") in order that most of the birds might be represented life-size. For each plate, Selby made watercolor paintings of the species."
"Selby etched his drawings on copper plates and then either took or sent the plates to William Home Lizars in Edinburgh. Either Lizars or one of his workmen took a pull [proof impression] from Selby's plate and worked on any parts necessary to bring the plate to a very fine state of completion. Selby and Sir William Jardine both purchased their copper plates and etching ground from Pontifex of London, and their letters refer to the progress made in drawing and 'biting' or etching their plates. If they made a mistake or accidently over-etched a plate, they relied on Lizars to correct by burnishing to lighten it" (Jackson, Bird Etchings, pp.202-204).
BM (NH) IV,pp.1896-1896; cf. Fine Bird Books (1990) p.141; cf. Nissen IVB 853; cf. Zimmer p.571.
#22451$2,250.00
 SELBY, Prideaux John (1788-1867)
Pheasants, M & F [Plate LVII]
[Edinburgh: 1819-1834]. Hand coloured engraving, finished with gum arabic. Printed on wove Whatman paper. Sheet size: 21 1/8 x 26 3/8 inches.
A beautiful print of pheasants from John Selby's seminal bird book "Illustrations of British Ornithology."
Prideaux John Selby was a versatile gentleman naturalist. Born on 23 July 1788 in Alnwick, Northumberland, he inherited Twizell House and its estate in 1804, and throughout his life did not neglect his duties as a landowner, magistrate, High Sheriff, and then Deputy Lieutenant of Northumberland. He married Lewis Tabitha Mitford, the daughter of Bertram Mitford of Mitford Castle, Northumberland, in 1810, and by 1817 had a happy marriage, three daughters, and a house that had become a sort of upmarket staging-post for naturalists heading North and South along the nearby Great North Road. Visitors were to include John James Audubon (who gave Selby and his brother-in-law Robert Mitford lessons in drawing), Sir William Jardine (one of Selby's closest friends and a collaborator on various later works), John Gould, William Yarrell, H.E.Strickland, to name but a few.
Natural history and ornithology had been Selby's passions from youth, and Christine Jackson notes, in her excellent introduction to the Sotheby's catalogue of the sale of the Bradley Martin collection of Selby watercolours, that, besides "collecting and preserving birds, Selby had observed them in the field, making careful notes of their habitat and habits. At his leisure, he also sensitively colored drawings of them. With this accumulation of practical knowledge, specimens, and some drawings, Selby embarked in 1819 on an ambitious project to publish the most up-to-date, life-size illustrations of British birds.
Since he had an incomplete pictorial record of his birds, many remained to be drawn while publication of the parts of the work proceeded. The aim was to issue each part comprising twelve plates at regular intervals of six months. The size of the paper chosen was elephant folio (27" x 21½") in order that most of the birds might be represented life-size. For each plate, Selby made watercolor paintings of the species."
"Selby etched his drawings on copper plates and then either took or sent the plates to William Home Lizars in Edinburgh. Either Lizars or one of his workmen took a pull [proof impression] from Selby's plate and worked on any parts necessary to bring the plate to a very fine state of completion. Selby and Sir William Jardine both purchased their copper plates and etching ground from Pontifex of London, and their letters refer to the progress made in drawing and 'biting' or etching their plates. If they made a mistake or accidently over-etched a plate, they relied on Lizars to correct by burnishing to lighten it" (Jackson, Bird Etchings, pp.202-204).
BM (NH) IV,pp.1896-1896; cf. Fine Bird Books (1990) p.141; cf. Nissen IVB 853; cf. Zimmer p.571.
#22452$3,000.00
 SHARPE, Richard Bowdler (1847-1909)
Astrapia Nigra [Gorgeted Bird of Paradise]
London: Taylor & Francis for Henry Sotheran & Co., 1891-98. Hand-coloured lithograph by William Hart, printed by Mintern Brothers. Very good condition apart from some overall light soiling. Sheet size: 21 1/2 x 14 1/2 inches.
A beautiful print from Sharpe's 'Monograph of the Paradiseidae, or Birds of Paradise, and Ptilonorhynchidae, or Bower Birds'.
Sharpe's work on the most spectacular of all bird families depicts the birds of paradise in all their glowing splendor, whilst the bower birds are pictured with their elaborately constructed "bowers", surrounded by the shells, bones and other small found objects with which they decorate the bower thresholds in an instinctive attempt to provide the finest backdrop to their highly elaborate courtship displays.
R. Bowdler Sharpe was John Gould's assistant for many years and was the only man knowledgeable enough and sufficiently attuned to the famous ornithologist's vision to complete several of his works.
Sharpe's comments in his monograph strike a chord with contemporary feelings on the preservation of endangered species. Writing of the then current fashion for decorating women's hats with the feathers of rare Birds of Paradise, he concludes 'What will be said in the future by the civilized world and its scientific investigators when they find that we had the chance of learning the habits of these extraordinary birds, and allowed them to pass out of existence for the adornment of our women-folk, with scarcely a word of protest'.
Fine Bird Books (1990) p.142; Nissen IVB 865; Whittel p.663; Wood p.565; Zimmer p.581.
#4730$2,400.00
 SHARPE, Richard Bowdler (1847-1909)
Astrarchia Stephane [Princess Stephanie Bird of Paradise]
London: Taylor & Francis for Henry Sotheran & Co., 1891-98. Hand-coloured lithograph by William Hart, printed by Mintern Brothers. Very good condition. Sheet size: 21 1/2 x 14 1/2 inches.
A beautiful print from Sharpe's 'Monograph of the Paradiseidae, or Birds of Paradise, and Ptilonorhynchidae, or Bower Birds'.
Sharpe's work on the most spectacular of all bird families depicts the birds of paradise in all their glowing splendor, whilst the bower birds are pictured with their elaborately constructed "bowers", surrounded by the shells, bones and other small found objects with which they decorate the bower thresholds in an instinctive attempt to provide the finest backdrop to their highly elaborate courtship displays.
R. Bowdler Sharpe was John Gould's assistant for many years and was the only man knowledgeable enough and sufficiently attuned to the famous ornithologist's vision to complete several of his works.
Sharpe's comments in his monograph strike a chord with contemporary feelings on the preservation of endangered species. Writing of the then current fashion for decorating women's hats with the feathers of rare Birds of Paradise, he concludes 'What will be said in the future by the civilized world and its scientific investigators when they find that we had the chance of learning the habits of these extraordinary birds, and allowed them to pass out of existence for the adornment of our women-folk, with scarcely a word of protest'.
Fine Bird Books (1990) p.142; Nissen IVB 865; Whittel p.663; Wood p.565; Zimmer p.581.
#4728$2,400.00
 SHARPE, Richard Bowdler (1847-1909)
Epimachus Meyeri [Meyer's Sicklebilled]
London: Taylor & Francis for Henry Sotheran & Co., 1891-98. Hand-coloured lithograph by William Hart, printed by Mintern Brothers. Very good condition. Sheet size: 21 1/2 x 14 1/2 inches.
A beautiful print from Sharpe's 'Monograph of the Paradiseidae, or Birds of Paradise, and Ptilonorhynchidae, or Bower Birds'.
Sharpe's work on the most spectacular of all bird families depicts the birds of paradise in all their glowing splendor, whilst the bower birds are pictured with their elaborately constructed "bowers", surrounded by the shells, bones and other small found objects with which they decorate the bower thresholds in an instinctive attempt to provide the finest backdrop to their highly elaborate courtship displays.
R. Bowdler Sharpe was John Gould's assistant for many years and was the only man knowledgeable enough and sufficiently attuned to the famous ornithologist's vision to complete several of his works.
Sharpe's comments in his monograph strike a chord with contemporary feelings on the preservation of endangered species. Writing of the then current fashion for decorating women's hats with the feathers of rare Birds of Paradise, he concludes 'What will be said in the future by the civilized world and its scientific investigators when they find that we had the chance of learning the habits of these extraordinary birds, and allowed them to pass out of existence for the adornment of our women-folk, with scarcely a word of protest'.
Fine Bird Books (1990) p.142; Nissen IVB 865; Whittel p.663; Wood p.565; Zimmer p.581.
#4732$2,400.00
 SHARPE, Richard Bowdler (1847-1909)
Monograph of the Paradiseidae, or Birds of Paradise and Ptilonorhynchidae, and Bower-Birds
London: Taylor & Francis for Henry Sotheran & Co, 1891-98. 2 volumes in 8 original parts, large folio (22 3/16 x 15 1/16 inches). Smaller format letterpress "Notice to Subscribers" tipped in at front of part VI, smaller format "Completion of the work" notice from the publishers tipped in at front of part VIII. 79 fine hand-coloured lithographic plates by William Mathew Hart, after his own drawings (52) and John Gould (20) or John Gerrard Keulemans (7), 13 uncoloured illustrations. Original pictorial grey paper-covered boards, dark blue cloth spines, the upper cover of each part with the letterpress title beneath a large wood-engraved title vignette, the eight parts contained in two dark green morocco-backed cloth boxes, the spines in six compartments with raised bands, lettered in the second and third compartments, the others with repeat decoration in gilt made up from various small tools.
A very fine copy of this, the "last of the fine bird books" (Fine Bird Books p.107). This copy, in original parts, with the best colouring of any copy that we have handled in past thirty five years.
Gould had intended to publish a complete monograph of the birds of paradise following completion of his Birds of New Guinea, but he did not live to do so. When Sharpe took over the task of completing that work, he appealed for subscribers for the proposed monograph. The response was clearly enthusiastic as within three years the first part of the present work was published. Some of the plates had previously appeared in Gould's Birds of New Guinea as "Messrs. Sotheran purchased the stock of Gould's works after his death [and] acquired the stones with which he had intended to illustrate his Monograph... Many of them were broken or otherwise damaged, and of these some have been redrawn or replaced by new plates by Mr. Hart. Since Gould's time, however, many marvelous new species have been discovered, and these have been described and figured in the present work" (Appendix). As the small format slip in part six makes clear, the timing of the publication of the work could not have been better, as so many beautiful new species were discovered whilst the work was in preparation that Sharpe felt justified in extending the size of the work from six to eight parts.
A great many copies of this work were issued at a later date with inferior hand-colouring. The quality of the colouring of the plates in the present copy is outstanding, and it is only with examples of this work in the original parts that the colouring can be guaranteed to be contemporary with the original publication dates. Copies such as the present example are very rare: only three are listed as having sold at auction in the past thirty years.
Fine Bird Books (1990) p.107; Nissen IVB 581; Ripley 263; Wood, p.565; Zimmer, p.581.
#15874$95,000.00
 SHARPE, Richard Bowdler (1847-1909)
Paradisea Ellioti [Elliot's Bird of Paradise]
London: Taylor & Francis for Henry Sotheran & Co., 1891-98. Hand-coloured lithograph by William Hart, printed by Mintern Brothers. Very good condition apart from some overall light soiling. Sheet size: 22 1/8 x 15 1/8 inches.
A beautiful print from Sharpe's 'Monograph of the Paradiseidae, or Birds of Paradise, and Ptilonorhynchidae, or Bower Birds'
Sharpe's work on the most spectacular of all bird families depicts the birds of paradise in all their glowing splendor, whilst the bower birds are pictured with their elaborately constructed "bowers", surrounded by the shells, bones and other small found objects with which they decorate the bower thresholds in an instinctive attempt to provide the finest backdrop to their highly elaborate courtship displays.
Sharpe's comments in his monograph strike a chord with contemporary feelings on the preservation of endangered species. Writing of the then current fashion for decorating women's hats with the feathers of rare Birds of Paradise, he concludes 'What will be said in the future by the civilized world and its scientific investigators when they find that we had the chance of learning the habits of these extraordinary birds, and allowed them to pass out of existence for the adornment of our women-folk, with scarcely a word of protest'.
Fine Bird Books (1990) p.142; Nissen IVB 865; Whittel p.663; Wood p.565; Zimmer p.581.
#9201$2,400.00
 SHARPE, Richard Bowdler (1847-1909)
Parotia Lawesi [Southern sixplumed Bird of Paradise]
London: Taylor & Francis for Henry Sotheran & Co., 1891-98. Hand-coloured lithograph by William Hart, printed by Mintern Brothers. Very good condition apart from some overall light soiling and slight rippling. Sheet size: 21 1/2 x 14 3/4 inches.
A beautiful print from Sharpe's 'Monograph of the Paradiseidae, or Birds of Paradise, and Ptilonorhynchidae, or Bower Birds'
Sharpe's work on the most spectacular of all bird families depicts the birds of paradise in all their glowing splendor, whilst the bower birds are pictured with their elaborately constructed "bowers", surrounded by the shells, bones and other small found objects with which they decorate the bower thresholds in an instinctive attempt to provide the finest backdrop to their highly elaborate courtship displays.
R. Bowdler Sharpe was John Gould's assistant for many years and was the only man knowledgeable enough and sufficiently attuned to the famous ornithologist's vision to complete several of his works.
Sharpe's comments in his monograph strike a chord with contemporary feelings on the preservation of endangered species. Writing of the then current fashion for decorating women's hats with the feathers of rare Birds of Paradise, he concludes 'What will be said in the future by the civilized world and its scientific investigators when they find that we had the chance of learning the habits of these extraordinary birds, and allowed them to pass out of existence for the adornment of our women-folk, with scarcely a word of protest'.
Fine Bird Books (1990) p.142; Nissen IVB 865; Whittel p.663; Wood p.565; Zimmer p.581.
#9247$2,400.00
 SHARPE, Richard Bowdler (1847-1909)
Ptilorhis Victoriae [Queen Victoria's Riflebird]
London: Taylor & Francis for Henry Sotheran & Co., 1891-98. Hand-coloured lithograph by William Hart, printed by Mintern Brothers. Very good condition. Sheet size: 21 1/2 x 14 7/8 inches.
A beautiful print from Sharpe's 'Monograph of the Paradiseidae, or Birds of Paradise, and Ptilonorhynchidae, or Bower Birds'
Sharpe's work on the most spectacular of all bird families depicts the birds of paradise in all their glowing splendor, whilst the bower birds are pictured with their elaborately constructed "bowers", surrounded by the shells, bones and other small found objects with which they decorate the bower thresholds in an instinctive attempt to provide the finest backdrop to their highly elaborate courtship displays.
Sharpe's comments in his monograph strike a chord with contemporary feelings on the preservation of the endangered species. Writing of the then current fashion of decorating women's hats with the feathers of rare Birds of Paradise, he concludes 'What will be said in the future by the civilized world and its scientific investigators when they find that we had the chance of learning the habits of these extraordinary birds, and allowed them to pass out of existence for the adornment of our women-folk, with scarcely a word of protest'.
Fine Bird Books (1990) p.142; Nissen IVB 865; Whittel p.663; Wood p.565; Zimmer p.581.
#9195$1,500.00
 STRONG, Asa B.
The American Flora, or History of Plants and Wild Flowers: containing a systematic and general description, natural history, chemical and medical properties of over six thousand plants, accompanied with a circumstantial detail of the medicinal effects, and of the diseases in which they have been most successfully employed
New York: Green & Spencer, 1848-1848-1849-1850. 4 volumes, quarto (9 5/16 x 7 1/8 inches). 4 lithographic frontispieces (1 hand-coloured portrait of Linnaeus, 3 hand-coloured plates), 4 hand-coloured lithographic additional titles, 188 lithographic plates, some printed in colours, all finished by hand, by Edwin Whitefield, David W. Moody and others. Expertly bound to style in green half morocco over contemporary marbled paper-covered boards, the flat spines divided into six compartments by single horizontal fillets, lettered in the second and third compartments, marbled endpapers, brown speckled edges.
A rare complete set of this important American flora with charming plates, including the very rare fourth volume
The collation for this work varies, as Stafleu notes: "The copies listed in The National Union Catalog show a great variation", but it is clear that two more plates are required in the first edition of vol.I (as here), than in the second edition of 1853. According to Stafleu, there are three issues of volume I, dated 1846, 1847, and 1848. The present set includes the 1848 third issue of volume I, which is complete with a frontispiece, lithographic additional title and fifty plates. The second volume contains one more plate than called for by Stafleu (who notes only an additional titlepage, frontispiece, and forty-five plates), and the third and fourth volumes conform exactly with Stafleu's collation. Bennett writes: "The publisher clearly did not count pages of color plates when listing the numbers on the title pages, but counted every separate item on each page. " (p.103).
Bennett p.103; Bradley Bibliography III, p.58; McGrath p.218; B.A. Norton Edwin Whitefield p. 145; Stafleu & Cowan 13.290
#15207$9,750.00
 SWAINSON, William (1789-1855)
Exotic Conchology; or figures and descriptions of rare, beautiful or undescribed Shells ... Second edition, edited by Sylvanus Hanley
London: Norman for Henry G. Bohn, 1841 [one plate watermarked '1841']. Quarto (11 13/16 x 9 1/4 inches). 48 hand-coloured lithographic plates by Swainson. Contemporary red half morocco gilt over marbled paper-covered boards, the flat spine divided into six compartments by fillets, lettered in the second compartment, the others with decorative borders enclosing large centrally-placed shell tools, marbled endpapers, gilt edges. Neat repairs to spine.
Second (and best) edition of 'one of the rarest and most beautiful illustrated works on shells ever published' (S. Peter Dance 'Shell Collecting', 1966, p.125).
The publication of the first edition of this spectacular work was first begun in 1821-1822 when only the first four parts appeared. Swainson published a re-issue in 1834 (with 16 additional plates), but, after Swainson's departure for New Zealand in 1837, it was left up to Henry Bohn to purchase the remaining stock of plates and printing stones, and (probably) to arrange for Sylvanus Hanley (1819-1899) to act as editor. Hanley's task was to find a way of 'reducing the whole into systematic arrangement, of drawing up descriptions of species, and adding such synonyms as the advanced state of Conchological knowledge might require' ('Advertisement' p.4).
According to Peter Dance , the beautifully composed and drawn plates 'set a standard of shell portraiture against which later publications could be judged, a standard few equalled'. Swainson included examples from a number of well known collections, including those of Elizabeth Bligh (1752-1812), whose outstanding shell collection contained many beautiful and rare examples obtained from the South Seas by her husband, William Bligh of the Bounty; Henry Constantine Jennings (1731-1819), Charles Dubois, Mrs Angus, John Mawe and W.J. Broderip.
BM(NH) v, p.2054; cf. Dance Shell Collecting 284; cf. Nissen ZBI 4049
#18195$6,500.00
 TRAVIÈS, Edouard (1809-1865)
[Asian Fairy Bird and Javan Munia] '53./ [L'Irene vierge. Irena puella & Le Gros bec Maia. Fringilla maia]
Paris & London: Ledot aine and Gambert, Junin & Co., [circa 1857]. Lithograph, coloured by hand by Travies, printed by Becquet of Paris. Proof before letters. Sheet size: 20 1/4 x 15 inches.
A fine and very rare proof lithograph by one of the greatest ornithological artists of the 19th century, from his finest work 'Les Oiseaux Les Plus Remarquables.'
Edouard Traviès was the first artist to successfully capture the character of individual birds. This together with the wealth of detail in the backgrounds, give great charm to his images and lift them above mere ornithological illustration, into the realm of fine ornithological art.
Traviès was born in Doullens in the Somme district of France in March 1809, the younger brother of the caricaturist Charles Joseph Traviès de Villier (1804-1859). Throughout his career he concentrated on natural history subjects, both in watercolour (he exhibited regularly at the Paris Salon between 1831 and 1866) and lithography, as here. Unlike a number of his contemporaries, he was an artist both with the brush and on stone, and the present lithograph is his own work. It comes from what is undoubtedly his greatest published work: 'Les Oiseaux Les Plus Remarquables par leurs formes et leurs coleurs. Scenes variees de leurs moeurs & de leur habitudes...' published simultaneously in Paris and London circa 1857.
#3853$2,750.00
 TRAVIÈS, Edouard (1809-1865)
[Australian Rosella] `2./ La Perruche de Pennant/ Psitacus Pennantii (Vaillant) 2/3 de nature/ Nelle Hollande'
Paris: Berrieux, [circa 1857]. Lithograph, coloured by hand, by Traviès, printed by Lemercier of Paris. Sheet size: 14 1/4 x 20 5/8 inches.
A fine lithograph by one of the greatest ornithological artists of the 19th century, from his finest work 'Les Oiseaux Les Plus Remarquables.'
A fine lively view of this Australian Rosella in typical pose: wings raised, head thrust forward aggressively, the only thing missing is the sound of its cry. This appears to an adult Crimson Rosella (Platycercus elegans), which is native to south-east and eastern Australia, and has been introduced to New Zealand and Norfolk Island.
Edouard Traviès was the first artist to successfully capture the character of individual birds. This together with the wealth of detail in the backgrounds, give great charm to his images and lift them above mere ornithological illustration, into the realm of fine ornithological art.
Traviès was born in Doullens in the Somme district of France in March 1809, the younger brother of the caricaturist Charles Joseph Traviès de Villier (1804-1859). Throughout his career he concentrated on natural history subjects, both in watercolour (he exhibited regularly at the Paris Salon between 1831 and 1866) and lithography, as here. Unlike a number of his contemporaries, he was an artist both with the brush and on stone, and the present lithograph is his own work. It comes from what is undoubtedly his greatest published work: 'Les Oiseaux Les Plus Remarquables par leurs formes et leurs coleurs. Scenes variees de leurs moeurs & de leur habitudes...' published simultaneously in Paris and London circa 1857.
#3576$3,000.00
 TRAVIÈS, Edouard (1809-1865)
Barn Owl (Tyto alba) `24./ L'Effraie ou la Fressaie. (Buffon) 2/3 nature/ Strix Flammea (Gmelin)/ Europe'
Paris & London: E. Savary & Cie and Gambert, Janin & Co., [circa 1857]. Lithograph, coloured by hand, by Traviès, printed by Lemercier of Paris. Sheet size: 21 1/8 x 14 5/8 inches.
A fine lithograph by one of the greatest ornithological artists of the 19th century, from his finest work 'Les Oiseaux Les Plus Remarquables.'
The slow, gentle, silent, gliding and swooping flight of the Barn Owl at dusk is one of the unforgettable sights of the bird world. Here an adult owl prepares to take flight with a field mouse grasped in one powerful talon, in the background the fading colours of the sunset and the muted image of a large church, perhaps the owl's nesting place.
Edouard Traviès was the first artist to successfully capture the character of individual birds. This together with the wealth of detail in the backgrounds, give great charm to his images and lift them above mere ornithological illustration, into the realm of fine ornithological art.
Traviès was born in Doullens in the Somme district of France in March 1809, the younger brother of the caricaturist Charles Joseph Traviès de Villier (1804-1859). Throughout his career he concentrated on natural history subjects, both in watercolour (he exhibited regularly at the Paris Salon between 1831 and 1866) and lithography, as here. Unlike a number of his contemporaries, he was an artist both with the brush and on stone, and the present lithograph is his own work. It comes from what is undoubtedly his greatest published work: 'Les Oiseaux Les Plus Remarquables par leurs formes et leurs coleurs. Scenes variees de leurs moeurs & de leur habitudes...' published simultaneously in Paris and London circa 1857.
#3573$2,000.00
 TRAVIÈS, Edouard (1809-1865)
Blackbird and young (Turdus merula) `17. / Le Merle. (Buffon) Turdus Merula (Linnèe) Grandeur naturelle/ Europe'
Paris: Ledot ainé, [circa 1857]. Lithograph, coloured by hand, by Traviès. Sheet size: 24 1/8 x 17 1/4 inches.
A fine lithograph by one of the greatest ornithological artists of the 19th century, from his finest work 'Les Oiseaux Les Plus Remarquables.'
In this lively scene, full of movement, a male blackbird is shown presenting a caterpillar to his hungry brood of four young . Blackbirds often produce two broods a year, the first in about April and a second in June. To judge from the age of the hatchlings and the state of the surrounding foliage, this is probably a summer brood.
Edouard Traviès was the first artist to successfully capture the character of individual birds. This together with the wealth of detail in the backgrounds, give great charm to his images and lift them above mere ornithological illustration, into the realm of fine ornithological art.
Traviès was born in Doullens in the Somme district of France in March 1809, the younger brother of the caricaturist Charles Joseph Traviès de Villier (1804-1859). Throughout his career he concentrated on natural history subjects, both in watercolour (he exhibited regularly at the Paris Salon between 1831 and 1866) and lithography, as here. Unlike a number of his contemporaries, he was an artist both with the brush and on stone, and the present lithograph is his own work. It comes from what is undoubtedly his greatest published work: 'Les Oiseaux Les Plus Remarquables par leurs formes et leurs coleurs. Scenes variees de leurs moeurs & de leur habitudes...' published simultaneously in Paris and London circa 1857.
#3559$2,500.00
 TRAVIÈS, Edouard (1809-1865)
Chaffinch, male and female (Fringilla coelebs) `31./ Le Pinson, mâle et femelle. (Buffon) Grandeur naturelle/ Fringilla Coelebs. (Linné)/ Europe'
Paris & London: Berrieux and Gambert, Junin & Co, [circa 1857]. Lithograph, coloured by hand, by Traviès, printed by Lemercier of Paris. Sheet size: 14 9/16 x 20 13/16 inches.
A fine lithograph by one of the greatest ornithological artists of the 19th century, from his finest work 'Les Oiseaux Les Plus Remarquables.'
A male Chaffinch looks warily at the viewer as his mate comes in to land beside him in a small clearing surrounded by bluebells, violets, wild strawberries and the lower branches of an oak sapling. A butterfly, possibly a Gatekeeper, suns itself on the stalk of a bluebell flower
Edouard Traviès was the first artist to successfully capture the character of individual birds. This together with the wealth of detail in the backgrounds, give great charm to his images and lift them above mere ornithological illustration, into the realm of fine ornithological art.
Traviès was born in Doullens in the Somme district of France in March 1809, the younger brother of the caricaturist Charles Joseph Traviès de Villier (1804-1859). Throughout his career he concentrated on natural history subjects, both in watercolour (he exhibited regularly at the Paris Salon between 1831 and 1866) and lithography, as here. Unlike a number of his contemporaries, he was an artist both with the brush and on stone, and the present lithograph is his own work. It comes from what is undoubtedly his greatest published work: 'Les Oiseaux Les Plus Remarquables par leurs formes et leurs coleurs. Scenes variees de leurs moeurs & de leur habitudes...' published simultaneously in Paris and London circa 1857.
#3570$2,250.00
 TRAVIÈS, Edouard (1809-1865)
European Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus), facing right `1./ La Crécerelle (Buffon) 2/3 nat./ Falco tinnunculus (Linnè)./ Europe'
Paris & London: Ledot ainé & E. Gambart & Co, April 1857. Lithograph, coloured by hand, by Traviès, printed by Becquet of Paris. Sheet size: 23 1/8 x 16 1/2 inches.
A fine lithograph by one of the greatest ornithological artists of the 19th century, from his finest work 'Les Oiseaux Les Plus Remarquables.'
This dramatic scene shows a male Kestrel battling with a grass snake amongst the ivy on top of an old wall, a pine tree behind. Uniquely, Traviès produced two versions of this plate: the present image, and then a slightly smaller version with the scene reversed. The two versions have different printers and publishers.
The male Kestrel can be identified by the blue-gray head and a tail with a black tip which develop when they are a year old, the females remain a fawn and black colour. This scene is unusual, and the Kestrel would not have attacked the snake as prey: the usual diet of the Kestrel is beetles, worms and the occasional small mouse.
Edouard Traviès was the first artist to successfully capture the character of individual birds. This together with the wealth of detail in the backgrounds, give great charm to his images and lift them above mere ornithological illustration, into the realm of fine ornithological art.
Traviès was born in Doullens in the Somme district of France in March 1809, the younger brother of the caricaturist Charles Joseph Traviès de Villier (1804-1859). Throughout his career he concentrated on natural history subjects, both in watercolour (he exhibited regularly at the Paris Salon between 1831 and 1866) and lithography, as here. Unlike a number of his contemporaries, he was an artist both with the brush and on stone, and the present lithograph is his own work. It comes from what is undoubtedly his greatest published work: 'Les Oiseaux Les Plus Remarquables par leurs formes et leurs coleurs. Scenes variees de leurs moeurs & de leur habitudes...' published simultaneously in Paris and London circa 1857.
#3560$2,500.00
 TRAVIÈS, Edouard (1809-1865)
Great Grey Shrike (Lanius excubitor) `Le Pie Grièche grise (Buffon) Grandeur naturelle/ Lanius excubitor (Linné)/ Europe/ 50'
Paris & London: Berrieux and E. Gambert & Co, [circa 1857]. Lithograph, coloured by hand, by Traviès, printed by Lemercier of Paris. Sheet size: 21 1/8 x 14 1/2 inches.
A fine lithograph by one of the greatest ornithological artists of the 19th century, from his finest work 'Les Oiseaux Les Plus Remarquables.'
The Great Grey Shrike, or Butcher Bird, is here shown perched on the ivy-clad branch of an oak tree defending his recently-killed prey (a female Yellowhammer [Emberiza citrinella). The Shrike frequents heathlands across northen Europe into Russia, often favouring silver birch trees, and feeds on small birds, voles and insects. The Shrike gained the alternative name `Butcher Bird' from its habit of hanging dead prey from thorns in thorn trees.
Edouard Traviès was the first artist to successfully capture the character of individual birds. This together with the wealth of detail in the backgrounds, give great charm to his images and lift them above mere ornithological illustration, into the realm of fine ornithological art.
Traviès was born in Doullens in the Somme district of France in March 1809, the younger brother of the caricaturist Charles Joseph Traviès de Villier (1804-1859). Throughout his career he concentrated on natural history subjects, both in watercolour (he exhibited regularly at the Paris Salon between 1831 and 1866) and lithography, as here. Unlike a number of his contemporaries, he was an artist both with the brush and on stone, and the present lithograph is his own work. It comes from what is undoubtedly his greatest published work: 'Les Oiseaux Les Plus Remarquables par leurs formes et leurs coleurs. Scenes variees de leurs moeurs & de leur habitudes...' published simultaneously in Paris and London circa 1857.
#3567$2,500.00
 TRAVIÈS, Edouard (1809-1865)
Greater Bird-of-paradise (Paradisaea apoda) 21./ L'oiseau de Paradis. (Buffon) 9/8 de la Grandeur naturelle/ Paradisea Apoda (Linnee)/ Nouvelle Guinee
Paris & London: E. Savary et Ce. and Gambart Junin et C, [circa 1857]. Lithograph, coloured by hand, by Traviès, printed by Lemercier of Paris. Sheet size: 21 1/8 x 14 5/8 inches.
A fine lithograph by one of the greatest ornithological artists of the 19th century, from his finest work 'Les Oiseaux Les Plus Remarquables.'
The Great Bird of Paradise is the largest most spectacular member of a family of 40 species grouped under the name Paradiseidae. It is native to the Aru Islands a group of about 95 islands in eastern Indonesia, south west of New Guinea. The first published image of this species appeared in 1750 in George Edwards' Natural History of Birds (see vol.III, plate 110). Daniel Elliot, in his A Monograph of the Paradiseidae (1873) writes `For many years the Birds of Paradise have been known to all persons whose avocations called them to the Moluccas; and the earlier voyagers among those islands entertained strange views regarding these attractive creatures. Their beautiful plummage excited the admiration of the most indifferent person; and the strange tales related of them aroused the fears of the more superstitious of even the reckless mariners'.
Edouard Traviès was the first artist to successfully capture the character of individual birds. This together with the wealth of detail in the backgrounds, give great charm to his images and lift them above mere ornithological illustration, into the realm of fine ornithological art.
Traviès was born in Doullens in the Somme district of France in March 1809, the younger brother of the caricaturist Charles Joseph Traviès de Villier (1804-1859). Throughout his career he concentrated on natural history subjects, both in watercolour (he exhibited regularly at the Paris Salon between 1831 and 1866) and lithography, as here. Unlike a number of his contemporaries, he was an artist both with the brush and on stone, and the present lithograph is his own work. It comes from what is undoubtedly his greatest published work: 'Les Oiseaux Les Plus Remarquables par leurs formes et leurs coleurs. Scenes variees de leurs moeurs & de leur habitudes...' published simultaneously in Paris and London circa 1857.
#3768$3,500.00
 TRAVIÈS, Edouard (1809-1865)
House Martin (Delichon urbica) `32./ L'Hirondelle au croupion blanc, ou l'Hirondelle de fenêtre.(Buffon.). Grandeur naturelle/ Hirundo Urbica. (Linnée)/ Europe'
Paris & London: Berrieux and Gambert, Junin & Co, [circa 1857]. Lithograph, coloured by hand, by Traviès, printed by Lemercier of Paris. Sheet size: 21 1/8 x 14 5/8 inches.
A fine lithograph by one of the greatest ornithological artists of the 19th century, from his finest work 'Les Oiseaux Les Plus Remarquables.'
Along with the Swallow and Swift, the House Martins are harbingers of summer. Here the birds, having made the incredible journey from southern Africa, are shown in amongst the urban roofs of a French town or city. In the foreground, an individual skims the top of a Horse Chestnut in its search for insects, behind securely attached to the eaves a young bird looks out from a mud nest to be fed by its parent. The feeling of heat, the strong summer light and the evocative wheeling cry of these accomplished fliers are all suggested in this gentle scene.
Edouard Traviès was the first artist to successfully capture the character of individual birds. This together with the wealth of detail in the backgrounds, give great charm to his images and lift them above mere ornithological illustration, into the realm of fine ornithological art.
Traviès was born in Doullens in the Somme district of France in March 1809, the younger brother of the caricaturist Charles Joseph Traviès de Villier (1804-1859). Throughout his career he concentrated on natural history subjects, both in watercolour (he exhibited regularly at the Paris Salon between 1831 and 1866) and lithography, as here. Unlike a number of his contemporaries, he was an artist both with the brush and on stone, and the present lithograph is his own work. It comes from what is undoubtedly his greatest published work: 'Les Oiseaux Les Plus Remarquables par leurs formes et leurs coleurs. Scenes variees de leurs moeurs & de leur habitudes...' published simultaneously in Paris and London circa 1857.
#3566$1,500.00
 TRAVIÈS, Edouard (1809-1865)
[Rose-ringed parakeet] 41./ La Perruche à collier rose. (Buffon) Grandeur naturelle./ Psittacus torquatus (Brisson.)/ Afrique
Paris & London: Berrieux and E. Gambart & Co, [circa 1857]. Lithograph, coloured by hand, by Traviès, printed by Lemercier of Paris. Sheet size: 21 1/4 x 14 1/8 inches.
A fine lithograph by one of the greatest ornithological artists of the 19th century, from his finest work 'Les Oiseaux Les Plus Remarquables.'
A fine portrait of this parrakeet in characteristic pose, one leg grips the stalk of the banana leaf, with the other it starts to eat a small banana. Butterflies enliven the scene with exotic palms visible in the background.
Edouard Traviès was the first artist to successfully capture the character of individual birds. This together with the wealth of detail in the backgrounds, give great charm to his images and lift them above mere ornithological illustration, into the realm of fine ornithological art.
Traviès was born in Doullens in the Somme district of France in March 1809, the younger brother of the caricaturist Charles Joseph Traviès de Villier (1804-1859). Throughout his career he concentrated on natural history subjects, both in watercolour (he exhibited regularly at the Paris Salon between 1831 and 1866) and lithography, as here. Unlike a number of his contemporaries, he was an artist both with the brush and on stone, and the present lithograph is his own work. It comes from what is undoubtedly his greatest published work: 'Les Oiseaux Les Plus Remarquables par leurs formes et leurs coleurs. Scenes variees de leurs moeurs & de leur habitudes...' published simultaneously in Paris and London circa 1857.
#3769$3,500.00
 TRAVIÈS, Edouard (1809-1865)
[Yellow-crowned Amazon] `20. / Le Perroquet à tète jaune. (Buffon)/ Psittacus ochrocephalus (Gmelin) / Ameriquel'
Paris & London: Ledot and Gambart, Junin & Co., [circa 1857]. Lithograph, coloured by hand, by Traviès, printed by Becquet of Paris. Sheet size: 16 5/8 x 22 3/8 inches.
A fine lithograph by one of the greatest ornithological artists of the 19th century, from his finest work 'Les Oiseaux Les Plus Remarquables.'
A bird portrait showing this central and south American parrot landing in the stem of an umbrella palm. The bird looks back towards the viewer with a wary eye and lets out a cry. Because of the wide colour variation the species is difficult to establish with certainty, but this appears to be a Yellow-headed Amazon (Amazona ochrocephala oratrix). Its Latin name given in recognition of its amazing gift of mimicry.
Edouard Traviès was the first artist to successfully capture the character of individual birds. This together with the wealth of detail in the backgrounds, give great charm to his images and lift them above mere ornithological illustration, into the realm of fine ornithological art.
Traviès was born in Doullens in the Somme district of France in March 1809, the younger brother of the caricaturist Charles Joseph Traviès de Villier (1804-1859). Throughout his career he concentrated on natural history subjects, both in watercolour (he exhibited regularly at the Paris Salon between 1831 and 1866) and lithography, as here. Unlike a number of his contemporaries, he was an artist both with the brush and on stone, and the present lithograph is his own work. It comes from what is undoubtedly his greatest published work: 'Les Oiseaux Les Plus Remarquables par leurs formes et leurs coleurs. Scenes variees de leurs moeurs & de leur habitudes...' published simultaneously in Paris and London circa 1857.
#3575$3,500.00
 TREW, Christoph Jakob (1695-1769)
Plantae selectae quarum imagines ... pinxit Georgius Dionysius Ehret
Nuremberg, 1750-1773. 10 parts in one volume, folio (20 x 13 1/2 inches). Ten engraved titles, the first heightened in gold, the rest heightened in gold and red, 3 mezzotint portraits of Trew, G.D. Ehret, and J.J. Haid, 100 fine hand-coloured engraved plates after Georg Dionysius Ehret by Johann Jakob Haid, each with the first word of the caption highlighted in gold. Extra-illustrated with 20 hand-coloured engraved plates by J. Elias Haid (being the "Supplementum," numbered 101-120), each carefully mounted to size. Contemporary German speckled calf gilt, covers with double-fillet gilt border, spine in eight compartments with raised bands, light brown morocco lettering-piece in the second, the others with repeat overall decoration of a centrally-placed flower-spray tool within a starburst, surrounded by various small tools and cornerpieces of stylized foliage, edges stained green, expert repairs to corners, joints and head and foot of spine.
A very fine copy of one of the greatest eighteenth-century botanical books, with the very rare complete complement of 120 exquisite plates (including 100 after paintings by Georg Dionysius Ehret, and the 20 plates from the supplement). Also included is the rare preliminary leaf with a list of the plants which Ehret had painted for Trew's collection.
Georg Dionysius Ehret, the greatest botanical artist of the 18th century, was unrivalled in his ability to "achieve realism, majesty, ineffable colour, all in one breathtaking look" (Hunt). He was born in Heidelberg in 1710, and originally worked as a gardener, practising drawing in his spare time. His artistic abilities led him into the service of a Regensburg banker named Leskenkohl who had commissioned him to copy plates from van Rheede tot Draakestein's Hortus indicus malabaricus (1678-1693). It was during this period that Ehret met Trew.
"Trew was a Nuremberg physician, anatomist, and botanist who at various times served as dean of the medical school at Nuremberg, as an Imperial Counselor, and as personal physician to the Emperor. He was made a Pfalzgraf and served as a patron of botanical (and anatomical) illustrators, filling roughly the same position in Germany as that occupied by Sir Hans Sloane in England" (Cleveland Collections p.397). Trew was to remain a friend and patron of Ehret throughout his life, and by 1742 the germ of what was to become the present publication was already under discussion when Trew wrote to Christian Thran in Carlsruhe "Every year I receive some beautifully painted exotic plants [by Ehret] and have already more than one hundred of them, which with other pieces executed by local artists, should later on ... constitute an appendicem to Weinmann's publication."
Ehret moved to London in the late 1730s, where he painted the recently introduced exotics at the Chelsea Physic Garden and established himself as a teacher of flower-painting and botany. Discussions about the projected work continued by letter until in 1748 when Johann Jacob Haid of Augsburg agreed to produce the engravings from Ehret's drawings. The first part was published in 1750, with six subsequent parts appearing before Trew's death 1769. The text to the final three parts remained unwritten and the plates to parts IX and X were still to be produced. The work was bought to a conclusion by Benedict Christian Vogel, Professor of Botany at the University of Altdorf. This copy does not include the engraved general title, or the portrait of Vogel but this "is normal when the decuria [or part] titles are present" (Johnston Cleveland Collections p.397).
It does, however, include what appears to be a rare preliminary text leaf not called for by either Hunt or Stafleu & Cowan, but possibly listed by Johnston. The two columns of text in German and Latin on the recto are headed Avertissement. The German text ends with Haid's name and the date June 1750. The conclusion of the Latin text is on the verso, again in two columns, and takes up about a third of the page. The remainder of the page is taken up by a list in Latin, in three columns, headed "Index plantarum, quarum imagines pinxit D. Ehretus / suntque Norimbergae in Museo D.D. Trew" and followed by a list of 240 individual plants.
Only one other copy with 120 plates is recorded as having sold at auction in the past 30 years: the de Belder copy, which included the 20 extra plates, and the supplement title and text. This copy with the very rare extra suite of plates, but without corresponding supplemental text.
Gerta Calmann Georg Ehret, Flower painter extraordinary (1977) p.97; Dunthorne 309; Hunt II, 539; Great Flower Books (1990), p.144; Johnston Cleveland Collections 429; Nissen BBI 1197; Pritzel 9499; Stafleu & Cowan TL2 15.131.
#15347$150,000.00
 TREW, Christoph Jakob (1695-1769)
Uitgezochte Planten, beschreven door... Trew... iut het latyn vertalt door Cornelius Pereboom
Amsterdam: Jan Christian Sepp, [1769]-1771-[1774]. Folio (20 2/3 x 14 2/5 inches). 3 mezzotint portraits of Trew, G.D. Ehret and J.J. Haid, 100 hand-coloured engraved plates by Johann Jacob Haid and Johann Elias Haid after Georg Dionysius Ehret, each with the first word of the caption heightened in gold. Contemporary Dutch mottled calf gilt, covers with central panel surrounded by gilt roll-tool border of stylized foliage. Modern tan cloth box, tan morocco lettering piece.
An excellent copy of the first Dutch edition of Trew's celebrated 'Plantae Selectae' one of the greatest eighteenth century botanical books, with 100 plates after paintings by Georg Dionysius Ehret. Linnaeus, wrote to Trew, in Latin, that "The miracles of our century in the natural sciences are your work of Ehret's plants, Edwards' work of birds and Roesel's of insects, nothing to equal them was seen in the past or will be in the future".
Christoph Trew, a physician and amateur botanist, had for a number of years been an admirer of Ehret's work. Ehret, a brilliant botanical artist, was unrivalled in his ability to "achieve realism, majesty, ineffable colour, all in one breathtaking look." (Hunt), he was born in Heidelberg in 1710 and originally worked as a gardener, practising drawing in his spare time. His artistic abilities led him to the service of a Regensburg banker named Leskenkohl who had commissioned him to copy plates in van Rheede tot Draakestein, Hortus indicus malabaricus (1678-1693), it was during this period that Trew met Ehret.
Trew was to remain a friend and patron of Ehret's throughout his life, and by 1742 the germ of what was to become the present publication was already under discussion when Trew wrote to Christian Thran in Carlsruhe, "Every year I receive some beautifully painted exotic plants [by Ehret] and have already more than one hundred of them, which with other pieces executed by local artists, should later on… constitute an appendicem to Weinmann's publication."
Meanwhile, Ehret had moved to London in the late 1730's, where he painted the recently introduced exotics at the Chelsea Physic Garden and established himself as a teacher of flower-painting and botany. Discussions about the projected work continued by letter until in 1748, Johann Jacob Haid from Augsburg agreed to produce the engravings from Ehret's drawings. The first part was published in 1750, with the six subsequent parts appearing before Trew's death 1769. With the help of Benedict Christian Vogel, Professor of Botany at the University of Altdorf, the work was completed in 1773.
The present edition was begun at about the time of Trew's death. Employing the same plates as had been used in the first edition, the Dutch publisher Jan Christian Sepp (who specialized in the publication of de luxe natural history books) had them very carefully coloured - the higher quality of the hand-colouring of this edition is self-evident - and arranged for Pereboom to translate the text. The publication of this edition very soon caught up with its first edition counterpart, and the work was completed in five years rather than the thirteen years that the first had taken.
Cf. Hunt 539; Nissen BBI 1998; Stafleu & Cowan TL2 15.131.
#5788$120,000.00
 WARNER, Robert (1814-1896) and Benjamin WILLIAMS (1824-1890)
Select Orchidaceous Plants [First Series]. By Robert Warner ... The notes on culture by Benjamin S. Williams
London: John Edward Taylor for Lovell Reeve & Co., 1862-1865. Folio (17 5/8 x 12 1/2 inches. 40 hand-coloured lithographed plates by and after W.H. Fitch (31) or James Andrews (9), printed by Vincent Brooks (37) or W.West (3). Contemporary dark green half morocco over purple cloth-covered boards, covers with the edges of the leather decorated with gilt fillets and roll tools, the cloth on the upper cover lettered in gilt 'Orchids', spine gilt in six compartments with raised bands, the bands emphasized with a decorative roll tool, lettered in gilt 'Orchids' in the second compartment, the others with elaborate overall repeat pattern built up from small tools, stylized foliage cornerpieces and a large central flower-spray tool, cream glazed endpapers, gilt edges. Provenance: Mrs. Darby (gift inscription on front blank, dated 1866).
First edition of the first series of Warner and Williams' beautifully-illustrated large-format work on orchid species
A very fine copy of the important complete first series of one of the most beautiful of all orchid books, largely illustrated by Walter Hood Fitch (1817-1892): 'the most outstanding botanical artist of his day in Europe' (Blunt & Stearn The Art of Botanical Illustration [1994] p.265). Sir William Hooker, his first patron, said of the artist "I don't think Fitch could make a mistake in his perspective and outline, not even if he tried." His work on orchids amply demonstrates this and shows 'his incredible ability in dealing with complex botanical structures' (Blunt & Stearn op. cit. p.264).
Warner and Williams realized that the huge explosion in varieties of orchids reaching the temperate regions meant that a process of selection was required to bring to the attention of the amateur enthusiast the 'new and beautiful varieties of the more ornamental of the species already known ... [as well as ] new ones which outvie the most lovely of those of the olden time'. With this in mind, as well as the fact that a large scale folio work was necessary to show the genus in all its glory, they set about publishing a work that was 'designed to present to the lovers of orchids with portraits of ... the most beautiful ... among the cultivated forms of this remarkable race of plants.' (Introduction). The experiment was a success, as they evidently launched the enterprise just as the burgeoning wider interest in orchids took hold. Originally planned as a single volume the work eventually expanded to three, with the final volume being completed in 1891.
BM (NH) V,p.2266; cf. Great Flower Books (1990) p.149; cf. J.Lewis Walter Hood Fitch p.32; cf. Nissen BBI 2108.
#18116$9,000.00
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