Travel, Atlases, Maps and Natural History
Travel, Atlases, Maps and Natural History
Auction Closed
November 12, 04:34 PM GMT
Estimate
3,000 - 5,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
JAUME SAINT-HILAIRE, JEAN HENRI
Plantes de la France. Paris: Printed for the Author, [1805]-1809
FIRST EDITION, 4 volumes, royal 8vo (249 x 153mm.), 400 colour-printed stipple engraved plates, errata, list of subscribers and index at end of volume 4, contemporary red half roan, marbled boards, marginal worming to beginning of volume 1, minor spotting, extremities very slightly worn
"Small but exquisitely delicate plates of pure colour printing" (Dunthorne). Saint-Hilaire's comprehensive work was published in parts over a long period of time, and there is no precise collation for the work. Jean Henri Jaume Saint-Hilaire (1772-1845) is one of the lesser known members of a group of post-revolutionary botanists that had at its heart such luminaries as L'Heritier, Ventenat, and most notably Pierre-Joseph Redouté. Despite the importance of this, his major work, recognition eluded him, and he spent much of his life on the fringes of poverty.
LITERATURE:
Great Flower Books p.105; Nissen BBI 989; Stafleu TL2 3306