2 volumes. 182 plates after drawings by Redouté, printed in color, finished by hand, interleaved with descriptive text. (Folio) 34.5x25.5 cm (13½x10"), contemporary green morocco-backed marbled boards, spines lettered and decorated in gilt in compartments.
A great copy of the best edition of the first work completely illustrated by Pierre-Joseph Redouté. This edition contains sixteen more plates than the first. Considered by many to be the greatest of all botanical painters, Redouté is best known for his stunningly accurate depictions of roses, lilies, and flowering plants. It is this scientific precision, in conjunction with his masterful and revolutionary use of color stipple engraving, that gives the plates in 'Histoire des Plantes Grasses' a uniquely soft and fresh look, even nearly two centuries later.
In the 1790s Redouté was introduced to Swiss botanist August Pyramus Candolle, and before long he asked Candolle to collaborate with him on the project. Regarded by many as one of the greatest botanist of all time (and memorialized, for example, in the genera Candollea and Cadolleodendron), Redouté eventually convinced Candolle to contribute, and 'Histoire des Plantes Grasses' became the botanists's first publication. Candolle provided the descriptive text for the work, and his expert, precise descriptions were the perfect analog to Redouté's magnificent illustrations.
The work also is of considerable importance for botanical science as stated in the catalogue of the famous "Stiftung für Botanik" at Liechtenstein: "The illustrations are of particular importance, since rather few herbarium specimens of succulents are made and the illustrations are often the only record". Nissen BBI 321.
Condition:
Bindings worn, upper joints splitting on first volume; light foxing throughout primarily in margins, plate numbers and an occasional marginal note in pencil on plates; overall very good, the coloring quite bright.