4 volumes. [10], 32, [78], 280; [4], 538; [4], 500; [4], 619 pp. + 1 ad leaf. With 1025 plates, including both color-printed mezzotints with added hand coloring, and hand-colored copper-engravings, 14 are double-page and 2 are folding; mezzotint frontispiece and two portraits printed in blue; half-page engraving in dedication-page; 7 (of 8) title-pages printed in red & black with engraved vignettes. (folio) 15¾x9¾, period mottled calf, spines tooled in gilt, morocco lettering pieces, raised bands.
An exceptional copy of Johann Wilhelm Weinmann’s spectacular and ground-breaking botanical work, featuring among its 1025 plates some of the earliest examples of color printing, and also containing Georg Dionysus Ehret's first published botanical illustrations (although unsigned). The work is described in the Hunt catalogue as the first botanical book to utilize color-printed mezzotints successfully. This is the Dutch-language edition of the work better known by the Latin title “Phytanthoza Iconographia, sive conspectus aliquot millium, tam indigenarum quam exoticarum, ex quatuor mundi partibus... plantarum, arborum, fruticum, florum, fructuum, fungorum, &c….” It is often found bound in 8 volumes, with the text and plates separated, and the text volumes having separate title-pages “Taalryk register der plaat-ofte figuur - beschryvingen der bloemdragende gewassen....” The present copy has the text and plates interspersed, with the title-pages for both plates and text bound in at the front of each volume (except the plate title for the first volume is not present). Johann Weinmann (1683-1741) was a Regensburg apothecary who organized this massive publishing project, financed by Bartholomaus Seuter, one of the engravers, who was aided in the task by Johann Ridinger and, in the later volumes, Johann Jakob Haid. Georg Ehret, now acknowledged as one of the most important botanical artists of the 18th century, served his apprenticeship as a botanical draughtsman under Weinmann for this project, contributing several hundred drawings, for which he was paid but a pittance. This led to a falling out between the two, which is perhaps why Ehret is nowhere acknowledged in the book. N. Asamin, a talented young female artist, also contributed drawings. The text for the first twenty-five plates was written by Johann Georg Nicolaus Dieterichs, who was succeeded by his son Ludwig Michael, and the work was completed after Weinmann's death by Ambrosius Karl Bieler. The Hunt Catalogue notes that “The mezzotint process used [here] had been invented by Johann Teyler in the Netherlands around 1688. As practiced here by Bartholomäus Seuter (1678-1754) and Johann Elias Ridinger (1698-1767), it was really a combination of etching and mezzotint, which made possible delicate lines and a very fine grain. The addition of handtinting brought about unusual and subtle effects. Some of the best work was done in later volumes by Johann Jakob Haid (1704-1767), who also provides portraits of Weinmann and Bieler.” Dunthorne 327; Great Flower Books p. 80; Nissen BBI, 2126.
Provenance: Sculptor Amalia deSchulthess of Santa Monica, California, purchased from Zeitlin & Ver Brugge.
Condition:
Some rubbing to joints and extremities, small tears to a few spine ends; minor foxing or discoloration to a small number of plates, plate 144 with tiny chip to top corner, plate 627 loose, but overall a very clean and fresh copy in fine condition.