Paxton and others | Paxton's Magazine of Botany and related works, 1849-52, 5 vols, contemporary green half calf

Sir Joseph Paxton, Thomas Moore, William P. Ayres, Arthur Henfrey

Paxton's Magazine of Botany and related works. London: William S. Orr and Co.,1849-1852, comprising:

i. Paxton's Magazine of Botany, and Register of Flowering Plants. Volume the Sixteenth. 1849. Dedication "to the gardening world in general", 23 hand-coloured lithographed plates by S. Holden (of 24 called for by Stafleu);

ii. Gardeners' Magazine of Botany. 1850-1851. 3 volumes (2 volumes 1850, 1 volume 1851), 32 + 48 + 30 engraved plates, mostly hand-coloured in whole or in part and heightened with gum arabic, by C.J. Rosenberg and/or S. Holden and others, chromolithographed title-page in 2nd 1850 volume;

iii. The Garden Companion, And Florists' Guide. January to October, 1852. 20 hand-coloured lithographed plates by C.J. Rosenberg

5 volumes in all, 4to (262 x 180mm.), uniformly bound in contemporary green half calf gilt over marbled boards, marbled edges, marbled endpapers, some spotting in all volumes, spines sunned, extremities slightly rubbed

GOOD EXAMPLES OF NINETEENTH CENTURY HORTICULTURAL JOURNALISM.

The early nineteenth century was a time of particular interest in flowering plants, and a variety of publications attempted to catalogue the ever-growing variety of known species.

Paxton's Magazine of Botany, of which this lot includes the 16th (and final) volume only, was an attempt to create a magazine of more important stature, with several important artists contributing to this work. Sir Joseph Paxton (1803-1865) was the head gardener for the Duke of Devonshire, and Chatsworth estate flourished with one of the most famous gardens in Europe under Paxton's cultivating hand. Nowadays, he is best known for originating the Cavendish banana.

Thomas Moore (1821-1887), the curator of the Chelsea Physic Garden, intended the Gardeners' Magazine of Botany as a publication for professional gardeners. The publication survived for two years, but closed due to a lack of subscribers. Indeed, the preface to volume 3 acknowledges that the "numbers [of professional gardeners] who seek for Scientific Information and Technical Botany are a limited class". Undeterred, Moore went on to serve as the editor of the Garden Companion, And Florists' Guide.

LITERATURE:

Paxton's Magazine of Botany: Great Flower Books, p. 85; Nissen BBI 2351; Stafleu TL2 7554; Gardeners' Magazine of Botany and The Garden Companion: not in Great Flower Books, Nissen, or Stafleu

PROVENANCE:

Haverland, armorial bookplates; noted in the Bakeham House library inventory, 1937