- 105
Thornton, Robert John
bidding is closed
Description
Temple of Flora, or Garden of the Botanist, Poet, Painter, and Philosopher. London: for the author, 1812
Large 4to (14 7/8 x 12 in.; 378 x 305 mm.). Engraved calligraphic title on two leaves, 28 stipple, aquatint or mezzotint plates including frontispiece, partially printed in color and finished by hand, two black and white mezzotint plates with Cupid, Flora and Ceres honoring a bust of Linnaeus, and Cupid inspiring plants with love by Maddocks after Russell and Bartolozzi and Landseer after Reinagle; dampstain in lower inner margin of first few leaves without affecting image, some light marginal foxing and soiling. 19th-century three-quarter calf and marbled boards, gold-ruled borders; rebacked at an early date but backstrip worn, corners and edges torn.
Large 4to (14 7/8 x 12 in.; 378 x 305 mm.). Engraved calligraphic title on two leaves, 28 stipple, aquatint or mezzotint plates including frontispiece, partially printed in color and finished by hand, two black and white mezzotint plates with Cupid, Flora and Ceres honoring a bust of Linnaeus, and Cupid inspiring plants with love by Maddocks after Russell and Bartolozzi and Landseer after Reinagle; dampstain in lower inner margin of first few leaves without affecting image, some light marginal foxing and soiling. 19th-century three-quarter calf and marbled boards, gold-ruled borders; rebacked at an early date but backstrip worn, corners and edges torn.
Literature
Dunthorne 302; Great Flower Books p. 77; Stafleu & Cowan Tl2 14.283; Johnston, Cleveland 763;
Catalogue Note
The "lottery edition," with fresh, vivid plates. Grigson speculates that copies of, or plates from, this smaller formatted edition of the Temple of Flora were to be given as prizes during the famous "Botanical Lottery" that Thornton was compelled to organize in order to stave off bankruptcy caused by the production of the monumental large folio edition (Grigson & Buchanan, Thornton's Temple of Flora, 1951).
The present copy substitutes the "Persian Cyclamen" (9 1/2 x 7 1/4 inches) for the "Large Flowering Sensitive Plant" cited in Dunthorne. The work, in both formats, is well-known for variation in its contents.