First edition of this important and beautiful work, illustrated with
« delightful tulips, hyacinths and auriculas » (blunt).
« A symbol and representation of the ascendancy of Dutch Nurseryman…
at the end of the eighteenth century » (Hunt).
Amsterdam, 1794.
Valuable copy on very large Dutch paper with wide margins, untrimmed
(height: 286 mm).
Elwe, Jan Barend, publisher. Nederlandsch Bloemwerk. Door een gezelschap geleerden.
Amsteldam, J.B. Elwe, 1794.
In-4 of ii leaves including 1 hand-colored title by Hl Myling after p.t. Van Brussel, (1) leaf, 125 pages, (6) pages, 53 hand-colored plates from the period. Half calf with corners, smooth spine decorated with gilt fillets, untrimmed. Binding from the period.
287 x 217 mm.
First edition of this important and beautiful work, illustrated with “delightful tulips, hyacinths and auriculas” (Blunt).
Arnold Arboretum, pp. 512-513; Blunt & Stearn The Art of Botanical Illustration (1994) p. 190; Dunthorne 215; Great Flower Books, p. 47; Hunt 733; Nissen BBI 2219; Landwehr, Dutch Books w/ Colour Plates, 29.
“A symbol and representation of the ascendancy of Dutch nurseryman… at the end of the eighteenth century”. (Hunt).
The plates are often replete with butterflies, caterpillars, beetles and other insects.
The breeding and distribution of tulips, hyacinths and auriculas was the most lucrative area of horticulture during much of the eighteenth century, and by the closing decades the Dutch were the acknowledged leaders in this field. The present work was produced as a sampler of the wide range of varieties that were available, but it also “takes a backward glance at the art of the gardener and the flower-painter of a century and a half earlier… The plates are charming… Nissen and Plesch… assign the plates to Paul Theodor van Brussel (1754-1795), though he signs only the titlepage bouquet. The three plates at the outset make a pleasing addition to our gallery of named varieties of the double hyacinth… And the named tulips and auriculas are similarly acceptable. Yet the aesthetic delight of the book lies more in its copies of early plates… thirty plates are close copies of those by Nicolas Robert (1614-1685)… in Variae ac multiformes florum species… (Paris [1660?])” (Hunt).
“Beautiful work, containing LIV plates superbly illuminated”. (Catalogue of a magnificent collection of books, 20)
« Curieus werk vercierd met 54 naer het leven gecouleurde plaeten, bevattende eene uytgelezene verzaemeling van de schoonste bloemen die in de nederlandsche hoven gevonden worden » (= curious work adorned with 54 plates colored after nature, containing an anthology of the most beautiful flowers of Dutch gardens).
Valuable copy with wide margins, untrimmed.
