Michaux, André | A groundbreaking monograph on American oaks, the Arpad Plesch copy

Michaux, André

Histoire des Chênes de l'Amérique, ou Description et Figures de toutes les espèces et variétés de Chênes de l'Amérique Septentrionale. Paris: Crapelet, An IX, 1801

Folio (534 x 345 mm, uncut). Half-title, 36 engraved plates (numbered 1–36) after Pierre Joseph Redouté (32) and Henry Joseph Redouté (4) by A. Plée and L. Sellier; a few small edge tears, half-title and edges slightly dust-soiled, faint foxing. Nineteenth-century green pebble cloth over marbled boards; extremities rubbed, corners bumped, hinges slightly split.

First edition of this groundbreaking monograph on American oaks; the Arpad Plesch copy.

The French botanist and adventurer André Michaux (1746–1802) traveled from Hudson's Bay to Florida and as far west as the Mississippi River, including an arduous journey into the mountains of western North Carolina. He sent thousands of plants to France, having been directed by his government to collect samples of timber trees and plants that could be used for food or medicine. 

The work describes twenty species and sixteen varieties of oaks, with their leaves and acorns brilliantly illustrated by Pierre Joseph and Henri Joseph Redouté. The descriptions present information about size, location, and practical uses of the various species of oak trees for houses, ships, ink, barrels, wheels, various carpentry work, and even firewood. Michaux, with his son François-André (see following lot), established nurseries in Hackensack, New Jersey, and Charleston, South Carolina. In addition to introducing many American plants into French horticulture, he introduced or further disseminated a number of plants to the United States, including the azalea, camellia, silk tree, ginko tree, chinaberry tree, and tea olive.

REFERENCE:

Aitken, p. 179; De Belder sale, 239; Dunthorne 249; Great Flower Books, p. 119; Hunt Redoutéana 8; Madol 20; Nissen 1358; An Oak Spring Sylva 18; Pritzel 6194; Stafleu & Cowan TL2 5957

PROVENANCE:

Arpad Plesch (red morocco bookplate; Sotheby's London, 18 Nov. 1975, lot 529) —Edward Dodd (Francis Edwards Ltd. invoice laid in, 27 September 1977 for £610; Sotheby's New York, 13 December 2002, lot 128)