Vincent, Henriette Antoinette (Née Rideau du Sal)

Handcolored stipple-engraved frontispiece by and after Busby.  Illustration: 47 plates after Vincent by Busby, printed by M'Queen (i.e., 23 subjects in two states: stipple-engravings printed in colors and finished by hand and uncolored stippled outline; the final subject also present in a third intermediate partially colored state). Binding: Contemporary red straight-grained morocco gilt, spine in four compartments with double raised bands, dark red morocco lettering-pieces in the second and fourth, the others elaborately decorated in gilt, covers elaborately paneled in gilt with a wide border composed from various decorative rolls, two over an onlaid wide band of green calf, all surrounding a central rectangle onlaid with a large lozenge of dark red straight-grained morocco, this lozenge outlined with a fillet and small decorative rolls with a large centrally placed arabesque composed from various small tools, gilt turn-ins, gilt gauffered edges. Provenance: Capt. William Henry Freese, 37th Grenadiers, Madras Army (presentation inscription, Wynberg, 3 August 1837).

Frontispiece with vertical crease near gutter and dampstaining in lower left margin not affecting image. Binding with spine neatly rebacked with the majority of the original spine laid down, corners and edges expertly restored, some rubbing.

De Belder sale 376; Cf. Dunthorne 320-321; cf. Great Flower Books, p. 147–48; Nissen 2067–2068

Frontispiece with vertical crease near gutter and dampstaining in lower left margin not affecting image. Binding with spine neatly rebacked with the majority of the original spine laid down, corners and edges expertly restored, some rubbing.
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.

The rare first English edition, with an emblematic frontispiece that is unrecorded in standard bibliographies.

This excellent example of English color printing is one of the very few early works where the printer is known.  It was based on Mme Vincent's work Études des fleurs et de fruits (Paris, c. 1810). Henriette Antoinette Vincent was one of a number of highly talented botanical artists working in Paris at the start of the nineteenth century. She was a pupil of both Gerard van Spaendonck and Redouté, and she exhibited in the Paris Salon 1814–1824. Dunthorne's description of the prints in the Paris edition could equally be applied to the present English edition: they are "among the most exquisite of all flower prints in their beauty and delicacy of execution."

The plates and the text of the English edition seem to have been available in a number of different forms (and under two different titles). The discrepancies in the plate numbers given by Dunthorne, Nissen, and Great Flower Books lead to the conclusion that they are all correct and that there is therefore no definitive collation. The present copy includes a plate total that is larger than any listed under a single title in the bibliographies and also includes an emblematic frontispiece by and after Busby which is not mentioned at all. All the images are the reverse of the French edition as the prints for the English edition were re-engraved using the prints of the original Paris edition as a guide.  The uncolored shading of the plates is printed in outline only, before the addition of the stippled shading so the plates are not simply uncolored impressions.