Flora Exotica. Die Prachtpflanzen des Auslandes, in naturgetreuen Abbildungen herausgegeben von einer Gesellschaft von Gartenfreunden in Brüssel, mit erläuternden Text und Anleitung zur Kultur von H. G. Ludwig Reichenbach, Königl. Sächs. Hofrathe. Doctor der Philosophie. . .
Two volumes (II and III) of five. Leipzig: Friedrich Hofmeister, 1834–1835. First edition.
Folio (13 15/16” x 10 ½”, 355mm x 266mm).
Vol. II: π1 1-122 [$1 signed]. 25 leaves, pp. [2] (title, blank), 1 2-48. With 72 hand-colored[1] lithographed plates.
Vol. III: π1 1-132 [$1 signed]. 27 leaves, pp. [2] (title, blank), 1 2-52. With 72 hand-colored lithographed plates.
With 144 hand-colored lithographed plates in toto.
Bound in contemporary half tree-calf over black marbled paper boards. On the spine, seven panels. Title and author gilt to orange paper in the second panel, number gilt to green paper in the fifth. All edges of the text-block glazed red.
Two volumes (only, of five; 144 of 360 plates). Rubbed, with wear and chipping at the extremities. Hinges starting. Scattered foxing, with some tanning at the plates. A handful of plates with a damp-stain at the head. Filled loss at the lower edge of the title-leaf of vol. II, not affecting the text. Traces of a bookplate to the front paste-down with offsetting to the first free end-paper of both volumes. Ink-stamp of the Königliche Friedrich-Wilhelms-Gymnasium to the title-page of both volumes, with the shelf-mark in ink manuscript. Violet ink manuscript numeration to the verso of the title of vol. II.
Prof. Dr. Dr. Heinrich Gottlieb Ludwig Reichenbach (1793–1879) was one of the most celebrated and decorated naturalists of the XIXc, as the long list of his professional achievements on the title-page attests. He trained as a medical doctor and was professor of surgical and medical anatomy at Dresden, but it is his publications of flora and fauna that left the greatest mark. His surgeon’s eye is shown with the Linnaean diagrams, mostly cross-sections of the organs of generation for the plants, as well as their organization by Linnaeus’ classes.
The present work — a contrast to Reichenbach’s Icones florae germanicae and helveticae — describes the many foreign plants being cultivated in Brussels, based on the collection published by Pierre Corneille van Geel as the Sertum botanicum from 1827 onwards in many parts. Reichenbach is credited with the German text, although it is not clear whether it is his translation or a fresh text prepared for his own book. Answers are elusive, as both works are quite rare; the Flora exotica has come to auction only eight times.
The Friedrich-Wilhelms-Gymnasium was established in 1747 in Berlin as its first high school; in 1797 it was named in honor of the newly-crowned King Friedrich III of Prussia. It boasts among its students Otto von Bismarck and Rudolf Wittkower. The buildings were destroyed in WWII.
Blunt, Fine Flower Books p. 132; Nissen, BBI 1601; Pritzel 7507; Stafleu-Cowan 8883.
[1] Nissen calls the plates chromolithographs; Stafleu-Cowan calls them copper plates.
Item #JLR0260
Price: $7,500