Lot 67
  • 67

Weinmann, Johann Wilhelm

Estimate
120,000 - 180,000 USD
bidding is closed

Description

  • Phytanthoza iconographia; sive Conspectus aliquot millium, tam indigenarum quam exoticarum, ex quatuor mundi partibus, longa annorum serie indefessoque studio … collectarum plantarum, arborum, fruticum, florum fructuum, fungorum. Regensburg: Hieronymus Lentz [vols. 1–3] and Heinrich Georg Neubauer [vol. 4], 1735–1737–1745
  • paper, ink, leather
Title-pages in Latin and German printed in red and black, text in alternating sections of Latin and German, mezzotint allegorical frontispiece of Ceres with attendants by J. J. Haid after Baumgartner in volume 1, mezzotint portraits of Weinmann and Bieler by Haid after M. C. Hirschman in vols. 1 and 3, respectively, the foregoing three mezzotints all printed in blue, errata on verso of the final leaf of index in vol. 4. Illustration: 1,025 engraved and mezzotint plates (numbered 1–1,025; 15 full-sheet or folding) printed in color and finished by hand after Ehret, Asamin, and others by Bartolomäus Seuter, Johann Ridinger, and Johann Jakob Haid.

4 volumes, folio (15 1/8 x 9 3/4 in.; 383 x 243 mm). Binding: Contemporary German calf, covers paneled in blind, spines gilt in eight compartments with red morocco labels, marbled endpapers, gilt edges with simple gauffering. Brown cloth folding-cases with maroon morocco labels. Provenance: Manuscript crowned double-L flanked by laurel wreath on title-page of vol. 1, with indistinct initials (GR?) at foot — Ernst Friedrich III, Carl von Sachsen-Hildburghausen (1727−1780; handcolored monogram bookplate, engraved by Martin Tyroff, Nuremberg, with press-marks 2309a–2039d).



Lower fore-edge corner of portrait of Bieler lost, plate 21 torn at fore-edge with slight loss within plate-mark, small light dampstain to fore-edge margins of plates 46–65, a very few plates, including one folding, with artless repairs to marginal tears occasionally affecting images, some mostly light scattered foxing. Bindings rubbed with modest restoration to extremities.

Literature

De Belder sale 382; Cleveland Collections 388; Dunthorne 327; Great Flower Books, p. 151; Hunt 494 (the preliminary issue); Nissen 2126; Pritzel 10140; Stafleu & Cowan TL2 17050

Condition

Lower fore-edge corner of portrait of Bieler lost, plate 21 torn at fore-edge with slight loss within plate-mark, small light dampstain to fore-edge margins of plates 46–65, a very few plates, including one folding, with artless repairs to marginal tears occasionally affecting images, some mostly light scattered foxing. Bindings rubbed with modest restoration to extremities.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Catalogue Note

A fine copy of the first complete edition of this highly ambitious survey of the plant kingdom, presenting, in alphabetical order, plants ranging from algae to bulbs, flowering plants, vegetables, fruits, shrubs, and trees. Weinmann’s magnum opus was “The first botanical book to use colour-printed mezzotint successfully” (Hunt) and clearly represents a technical and artistic advance on its precursors, Martyn’s Historia plantarum rariorum (1728) and the Society of Gardeners' Catalogus plantarum (1730).

Phytanthoza iconographia contains the first published (though unsigned) illustrations by perhaps the greatest botanical artist of the eighteenth century, Georg Dionysius Ehret. Ehret served his apprenticeship as a botanical draftsman under Weinmann, who exploited him mercilessly, supposedly offering only a meager wage and then paying him just half the promised amount. Ehret eventually withdrew from the project, which explains why he is not acknowledged anywhere in the book. Still, Ehret’s distinctive style is on display throughout the work and particularly in the various aloes and cacti that are depicted in elaborate pots and urns.

This Regensburg edition is based on Weinmann’s collection of plants and was financed by him, despite the claim on the Latin title that it was produced at the expense of the artists and engravers. When Ehret refused to continue on the work, Weinmann replaced him with N. Asamin, a talented young female artist. Extremely influential at the time of its publication, Weinmann’s work is now principally valued for the high artistic standard of its plates, but it also represents an extremely valuable record of the plant kingdom as it was understood and classified in the period just preceding the introduction of Linnaeus' revolutionary system of classification. The text is by J. G. N. Dietrichs, L. M. Dietrichs, and A. K. Bieler.

As with many works published in parts and more than one issue (in addition to Jan Burmann’s Dutch translation and the preliminary Eigentliche Darstellung, 1734–1735), the make-up of preliminary leaves and indexes varies from copy to copy. The Allen copy is substantially more complete than most and includes the two-leaf dedication to the artists, the nine-leaf preface by A. Haller in German, the nine-leaf Latin and eleven-leaf German index, and twelve-leaf “real-register” at the conclusion of vol. 4. However, it is without the list of subscribers, the leaf of testimonials, and the Latin version of Haller’s preface.