GEEL, SERTUM BOTANICUM..., FIRST EDITION OF THE RARE COMPLETE SET

GEEL, SERTUM BOTANICUM..., FIRST EDITION OF THE RARE COMPLETE SET WITH 600 ILLUSTRATIONS, 4 volumes. GEEL, Pierre Corneille van. Encyclopedie du Règne Végétal. Sertum Botanicum. Collection des plants remarquables par leur utilité, leur élégance, leur éclat ou leur nouveauté, consistant en six cents planches soigneusement lithographiées et coloriées... par une société de botanistes. Brussels: van Geel and Drapiez (Pierre-Auguste Joseph), 1828-32. Folio (binding 385 x 295mm, text ca 356 x 268mm). 599 hand-colored and one uncoloured lithographed plates after G. Severyns, and lithographed by Burggraaff. Alphabetical index of latin names in first volume. Contemporary full calf with gilt spine in five compartments. 4 volumes. First edition of this this rare complete set with 600 illustrations (Nissen calls for 594, the Plesch copy had 592 plates). The work was reissued in Paris as Flore des Serres et Jardins de Paris, 1834." Cleveland Collections 950; Dunthorne 121; Great Flower Books p. 85; Nissen BBI 2386. By the late 1820s and early 1830s, Belgium was fast becoming one of the most important centers for botany, botanical research, and horticulture, a trend that was to reach its peak with orchid growers of the second half of the nineteenth century. The present work, overseen by a "Societé de Botanists," reflects this increasing importance. Its large format is unusual for a publication of this type and was possible because of the advances in the art of lithography. As the title suggests, the work concentrates on the recently identified or discovered trees, shrubs, and flowering plants. These largely exotic specimens are presented in 24 classes, with excellent plates by G. Severeyns, each including a life-sized or close to life-sized representation of the flower or its seeds and flowers. The text includes a botanical description, structure of the plant, or its seeds and flowers, Linnæan and local name, synonyms and text giving the history of the discovery of the plant, its place of origin, a description of the plant and remarks on its cultivation. According to a note which precedes the indices, the early parts of the work were already issued and distributed before the publishers noticed that neither the plates nor the accompanying text was numbered. It was apparently too late to recall these parts so the decision was taken to complete the work without any pagination or plate numbers. This has ensured that this work is seldom, if ever, found complete and indeed there is little agreement among the main bibliographies as to the correct plate count (nevertheless the title calls for 600 plates).

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