The Orchidaceæ of Mexico & Guatemala by Ja.s Bateman, Esq.re “Like restless serpents, clothed in rainbow and fire, the parasites, starred with ten thousand blossoms flow around the grey trunks” Shelley
EX-COLL. JOHN ROLAND ABBEY
London: for the author by J. Ridgway and Sons, 1843. First edition.
Elephant folio (29” x 20 ¾” 735mm x 530mm): 52 leaves, pp. [12] (title, blank, dedication, blank, subscribers, index, 2pp. synopsis, list of “best” orchids cultivated in England, engraving of epiphyte-houses, preface, engraved wreath) 1–7 8–9 10–12 [80] (plate descriptions). With 40 hand-colored lithographs, 2 engraved plates, and 40 engraved vignettes.
Bound by Westley’s & Co. in dark green morocco with double gilt rolled boarders and blind tooled ornamentation to the boards. Title and author gilt to the front board. On the spine, 5 raised bands. Title and author gilt to the second panel. With gilt dentelles and red marbled endpapers.
Rebacked with the original backstrip laid down. Extremities rubbed. Chipping to the head and tail of the backstrip. Oil stain along the gutter of the preliminary pages. Tape to the verso of the first binder’s blank. Title leaf and dedication creased vertically. Occasional foxing to the versos of the plates and peripheral tanning to the guards. Text leaves evenly toned. Agenda et Corrigenda tipped in at the rear binder’s blank. Armorial bookplate of John Roland Abbey to the front pastedown. Binder’s stamp to the flyleaf’s verso.
Only 125 examples were printed of James Bateman’s (1811–1897) The Orchidaceæ of Mexico & Guatemala. His subscribers were few, the plates and coloring were intricate, and the sheer heft of the tome was enough to be parodied in its own pages (by renowned cartoonist, George Cruikshank, no less). Bateman’s masterpiece was produced in the midst of the Victorian era’s “orchid mania” or “Orchidelirium,” during which wealthy flora enthusiasts endeavored to collect and cultivate exotic orchid species, commissioning travelers to search for new and rare examples. James Bateman was one such enthusiast. A wealthy British landowner and passionate horticulturalist, Bateman employed collectors to obtain orchids on his behalf, particularly from South and Central America. It was his relationship with George Ure Skinner, a fellow Englishman and a merchant operating out of Guatemala, that enabled Bateman to secure many of the flowers featured in the present volume.
The Orchidaceæ was issued in parts between 1837 and 1843. Sarah Anne Drake (1803-1857) and Augusta Innes Withers (ca 1793-1864) produced 37 of the 40 original watercolors. Miss Drake of Turnham Green, as she was known professionally, was a botanist and orchidologist, and John Lindley's principal botanical artist. Mrs. Withers worked for the Horticultural Society, was appointed flower painter to Queen Adelaide in 1830, and later became “Flower and Fruit Painter in Ordinary” to Queen Victoria. Maxim Gauci faithfully translated their work to the plate. Of his skill and the volume’s artistry, Blunt writes, ''Bateman's giant folio eclipses the works of all who went before or came after him. Gauci, who executed the forty lithographs (thirty-seven of which were made from drawings by Mrs Withers or Miss Drake), was a true master of the process: his tone ranges from the palest of silvery greys to the richest velvet black; his outline is never mechanical or obtrusive; and the hand-colouring is executed with consummate skill. In this book, the great orchids of central America live for us in all their glory.'' Bateman would go on to publish two more monographs on orchids, but neither reached the cult status of his exotically alluring freshman release. Today, fewer than 55 sets of The Orchidaceæ of Mexico & Guatemala are known to exist (BHL).
John Roland Abbey (1894–1969) was a British book collector whose libraries were shaped by his affinity for English literature, important works of travel, natural history, and fine color plate books. Abbey took to collecting after a career in the military, having been a regimental officer in World War I and a staff officer in World War II. His library amassed over 2,000 volumes and he approached collecting with the precision that only an army man could. Abbey published three bibliographic catalogs based on his own holdings of aquatint and lithography, which would enter the canon of standard reference for catalogers and hobbyists alike.
BHL 8001181; Blunt pp. 249–251; Great Flower Books, p.48; Nissen BBI 89; Stafleu & Cowan TL2 342.
Cataloged by G.R. Murdock
Item #GRM0066
Price: $250,000