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Stunning Highlights from the Magnificent Botanical Library of D. F. Allen

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The Magnificent Botanical Library of D. F. Allen showcases three centuries of the finest illustrated botanical books. Many of the world’s most celebrated flower painters – including Pierre Joseph Redouté, Johann Wilhelm Weinmann and Christoph Jakob Trew – are represented by superb copies of their greatest publications. Click ahead to see a selection of exquisite highlights.

The Magnificent Botanical Library of D. F. Allen
26 October | New York

Stunning Highlights from the Magnificent Botanical Library of D. F. Allen

  • Johann Wilhelm Weinmann. Phytanthoza iconographia sive conspectus aliquot milium, 1735–1737–1745. Estimate $120,000–180,000.
    A fine copy of the first complete edition of this highly ambitious plant kingdom survey, presenting – in alphabetical order – plants ranging from algae to bulbs, flowering plants, vegetables, fruits, shrubs and trees. Featuring 1,025 engraved and mezzotint plates printed in colour and finished by hand after Ehret, Asamin and others by Bartolomäus Seuter, Johann Ridinger and Johann Jakob Haid.

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  • Christoph Jakob Trew and Benedict Christian Vogel. Plantæ Selectæ, 1750–1792. Estimate $200,000–300,000.
    A remarkable uncut copy of one of the greatest 18th century botanical books, with the exceedingly rare supplement containing a further 20 plates published in 1790–1792. Featuring 120 superb hand-coloured engraved plates by Johann Jacob Haid and Johann Elias Haid after Georg Dionysius Ehret, each with the first word of the caption heightened in gold.

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  • Philip Miller. Figures of the Most Beautiful, Useful, and Uncommon Plants Described in the Gardeners Dictionary, [1755–] 1760. Estimate $15,000–20,000.
    A near-fine, uncut copy of the first edition of Miller’s illustrated supplement to his overwhelmingly popular Gardeners Dictionary ( lot 40 ). With 300 hand-coloured or colour-printed and hand-finished etched and engraved plates after G. D. Ehret, J. Bartram, W. Houston, R. Lancake and J. S. Miller by Miller, T. Jefferys and J. Mynde.

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  • Maria Sibylla Merian and Daniel Rabel. Histoire générale des insectes de surinam et de toute l'Europe ... 1771. Estimate $90,000–120,000.
    The Parisian publisher L. C. Desnos's remarkable and beautiful compilation of the works of Maria Sibylla Merian and Daniel Rabel, featuring 325 hand-coloured engraved plates on 188 sheets (the 256 plates in the third volume after Merian by J. Mulder, P. Sluyter and D. Stopendaal; the 69 plates in the third volume after Rabel).

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  • Thomas Hale [attrib. to John Hill]. Eden: or, A Compleat Body of Gardening, 1756–1757. Estimate $18,000–25,000.
    An outstanding copy of the scarce hand-coloured issue of the first edition. Published in 60 numbers between 28 August 1756 and 18 November 1757 as a gardener’s calendar, Eden features 60 hand-coloured engraved botanical plates after and by Hill, Boyce and others.

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  • Pierre Joseph Redouté and Augustin-Pyramus de Candolle. Les Liliacées … Tome second, [1804–] 1805. Estimate $25,000–35,000.
    A fine, large copy, preserving deckle on many plates, of the second volume of Redouté's masterpiece: "the highest peak of Redouté's artistic and botanical achievement; … among the most important monuments of botanical illustration ever to be published" (Stafleu, in Redoutéana). With 60 stipple engraved plates printed in colour and finished by hand after Redouté by Chailly, Gabriel, Langlois le jeune, de Gouy, Allais Phelipeau and Marie.

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    Lot 20 . Thomas Hale [attrib. to John Hill]. Eden: or, A Compleat Body of Gardening, 1756–1757. Estimate $18,000–25,000.



    Lot 22 . Joseph Dalton Hooker. The Rhododendrons of the Sikkim-Himalaya, 1849. Estimate $12,000–15,000.



    Lot 30 . Charles Lemaire. Le Jardin fleuriste, 1850. Estimate $6,000–8,000.




    Lot 37 . Maria Sibylla Merian and Daniel Rabel. Histoire générale des insectes de surinam et de toute l'Europe ... 1771. Estimate $90,000–120,000.



    Lot 49 . Pierre Joseph Redouté and Augustin-Pyramus de Candolle. Les Liliacées … Tome second, [1804–] 1805. Estimate $25,000–35,000.



    Lot 61 . Christoph Jakob Trew and Benedict Christian Vogel. Plantæ Selectæ, 1750–1792. Estimate $200,000–300,000.



    Lot 67 . Johann Wilhelm Weinmann. Phytanthoza iconographia sive conspectus aliquot milium, 1735–1737–1745. Estimate $120,000–180,000.


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