Lawrance, Mary.

First edition, folio (395 x 310mm.), hand-coloured etched and stipple-engraved frontispiece, engraved title and dedication, 2 leaves of letterpress, 90 hand-coloured etched and stipple engraved plates of roses, [Dunthorne 176; Great Flower Books, p.64; Henry 3:948; Nissen BBI 1151; An Oak Spring Flora 78; not in Hunt], blue straight-grained morocco gilt, one or two plates dampstained at head, binding rubbed, corners repaired

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing, where appropriate
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

The first book devoted to roses. Lawrance (fl. 1794-1830), was a noted flower-painter and teacher of painting, who exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1795, and this work represents a breakthrough in the depiction of the rose in all its complexity, perfected in the following century by Redouté. The pioneering nature of the work means that there are inevitable infelicities in some of the plates, but as Lucia Tongiorgi Tomasi notes "it cannot have been a simple task to present this flower for the first time in these ninety folio plates". She goes on to note that the frontispiece, a garland of roses, "can certainly be counted among the most charming in botanical illustration" (An Oak Spring Flora, p.300). The work was published in thirty parts, beginning in 1796.