Details
Nederlandsch Bloemwerk. Door een Gezelschap geleerden. Amsterdam: T. B. Elwe, 1794.
4° (265 x 210mm). Hand-coloured engraved title by H. L. Myling after Paul Theodor van Brussel, list of subscribers and 53 HAND-COLOURED ENGRAVED PLATES. Contemporary half calf, spine gilt in six compartments with light-brown lettering-piece (extremities rubbed).
FIRST EDITION of this "symbol and representation of the ascendancy of the Dutch nurseryman" (Hunt 733). The composition of the 'Gezelschap' of nurseryman who were responsible for the book is not known: although Dunthorne appears to list the work under the name of Henrietta Maria Moriarty, this is due to typographical error, rather than bibliographical decision, as this is the proper alphabetical place for 'Nederlandsch'. The work was issued in nine installments at a total cost of 25 fl.: the list of subscribers mentions only 66 names. The plates illustrate both the beginning of tulip culture, and the height of popularity of the double hyacinth (whose cultivars at this time are said to have numbered one thousand). The first three plates of hyacinths appear to have been recent varieties, as they do not occurr in Saint-Simon's Des Jacintes of 1767. Many of the plates are copied from earlier flower illustrations: Hunt lists 31 that are modelled on those by Nicolas Robert. Some of these 31 are also influenced by Maria Sibylla Merian, who copied from Robert in her turn. The text comments on the market-value of each flower, and advises on how to look after it during the winter.
Hunt 733; Dunthorne 215; Nissen BBI 2219; Great Flower Books p. 47; Landwehr Studies in Dutch Books with Coloured Plates 29.
4° (265 x 210mm). Hand-coloured engraved title by H. L. Myling after Paul Theodor van Brussel, list of subscribers and 53 HAND-COLOURED ENGRAVED PLATES. Contemporary half calf, spine gilt in six compartments with light-brown lettering-piece (extremities rubbed).
FIRST EDITION of this "symbol and representation of the ascendancy of the Dutch nurseryman" (Hunt 733). The composition of the 'Gezelschap' of nurseryman who were responsible for the book is not known: although Dunthorne appears to list the work under the name of Henrietta Maria Moriarty, this is due to typographical error, rather than bibliographical decision, as this is the proper alphabetical place for 'Nederlandsch'. The work was issued in nine installments at a total cost of 25 fl.: the list of subscribers mentions only 66 names. The plates illustrate both the beginning of tulip culture, and the height of popularity of the double hyacinth (whose cultivars at this time are said to have numbered one thousand). The first three plates of hyacinths appear to have been recent varieties, as they do not occurr in Saint-Simon's Des Jacintes of 1767. Many of the plates are copied from earlier flower illustrations: Hunt lists 31 that are modelled on those by Nicolas Robert. Some of these 31 are also influenced by Maria Sibylla Merian, who copied from Robert in her turn. The text comments on the market-value of each flower, and advises on how to look after it during the winter.
Hunt 733; Dunthorne 215; Nissen BBI 2219; Great Flower Books p. 47; Landwehr Studies in Dutch Books with Coloured Plates 29.