Sweet | Robert. The Florist's Guide, and Cultivator's Directory. 1827–1832

SWEET, ROBERT

The Florist’s Guide, and Cultivator’s Directory. London: James Ridgway, July 1827– March 1832

FIRST EDITION, 50 parts, 8vo (254 x 165 mm., uncut except nos. V & XXXVII), letterpress titles to nos. XXV and L (Volume 1 and 2, respectively) with systematic indices, multiple advertisements inserted, 200 hand-coloured engraved plates (numbered 1–200) by J. Watts after E.D. Smith (199) and William Prest (1), stab-stitched publisher's printed paper wrappers, housed in two folding cloth cases, green morocco labels, light offsetting to text from some plates, marginal soiling to plate 1, minor foxing to 25 & 37, some scattered wear and minor soiling to wrappers, particularly to no. I, wrappers to parts V and XXXVII in facsimile

SCARCE ORIGINAL PARTS of Sweet’s practical guide to the cultivation of many of the most beautiful flowering plants then available. 

Each plate shows a single variety and is accompanied by text giving a taxonomic description and instructions for the plant’s cultivation. The work displays a bias towards the tulip family and includes 61 "biblomen" or multicolored varieties. Also included are carnations (19), "picotees" or dianthus (14), pinks (18), ranunculus (38), "Georgianas" or dahlias (6), auriculas (27), polyanthus (2), hyacinths (7), and roses (8). Not included, of course, are any cistus (or rock-roses) or geraniums, both of which were dealt with by Sweet in two earlier monographs.

In addition to the present work, Sweet was author of Hortus Suburbanus Londinensis, London: 1818; Gereniaceae, London: 1820–1830; The Botanical Cultivator, London: 1821; The British Warblers, London: 1823; The British Flower Garden, London: 1823–1829; Cistineae, London: 1825–1830; Sweet’s Hortus Britannicus, London: (1826)–1827; Flora Australasica, London: 1827–1828; and in conjunction with H. Weddell, British Botany, London: 1831. 

LITERATURE:

Cleveland Collections 930; Dunthorne 296; Great Flower Books, p. 143; Nissen BBI 1925