Tenore. Flora Napolitana. 1811-[1838]. 7 volumes

Property from the Library at Spetchley Park

TENORE, MICHELE

Flora Napolitana, ossia descrizione delle piante indigine del regno di Napoli, e delle più rare specie di piante esotiche coltivate ne' giardini. Naples: Stamperia francese, 1811-[1838]

FIRST EDITION, 5 volumes bound in 7 (5 text, 2 plates), folio (text, 450 x 305mm.; plates, 463 x 318mm. and 490 x 400mm.), 250 hand-coloured stipple-engraved plates printed in colours and finished by hand, (175 in two states), some plates with manuscript numbering, contemporary half diced russia, minor spotting or soiling, one marginal repair, volume 4 lacking text leaf at end (xvii-xviii), slightly rubbed, spines splitting at places

THE LARGEST AND FINEST WORK ON NEAPOLITAN FLORA. Strife in the Kingdom of Naples during the first half of the nineteenth century delayed completion of the work; consequently, complete copies are difficult to find. Stafleu and Cowan record only two copies, one of which is incomplete; ABPC records only one complete copy sold at auction. The work was produced under the patronage of King Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies. It contains a description of the indigenous Neapolitan flora and some of the exotics cultivated in royal gardens of which Tenore was a director. Two Appendices were published in 1823 and 1826, not present in this copy.

LITERATURE:

Great Flower Books, p.77; Nissen BBI 1939; Stafleu TL2 13901

PROVENANCE:

Empire Français (Rome), Décret de février 1810, blindstamp to title of volume one; William Wesley & Son, London, bookseller's label; Ellen Ann Willmott (1858–1934), Warley Place, Essex; posthumous sale in these rooms, 1-3 April 1935, lot 356