Les Liliacées ; par P.J. Redouté
WITH THE PLATES BOUND ALPHABETICALLY BY GENUS
IN EMULATION OF THE RARE LARGE PAPER ISSUE
Eight volumes. Paris: printed for the author by the Imprimerie de Didot jeune, 1802–1816. First edition.
Broadsheet folio (20 3/8” x 13 9/16”, 518mm x 346mm).
Vol. I: π-3π1, portrait, blank, 218, 6, 403, 485, “328-329,” 195, 70, 474, 69, 21, 117, 289, 285, 452, 268, 97, 300, 385, 281, 379, 374, 286, 368, 101, 345, 325, 311, 357, 119, 214, 68, 179, 316, 271, 97*, 100, 240, 102, 233, 363, 118, 272, 252, 213, 99, 391, 50, 305, 482, 319, 303, 265, 40, 46, 31, 454, 61, 180, 469, 62, 274, 32, 4, 450, “370-371 et 372,” 347, 148, 241, 479, 9, 424, 33, 115, 10. 78 leaves, pp. [154] (half-title, imprint, title, blank, 2pp. “discours preliminaire,” 2 blanks; 148pp. text, 2pp. per plate except for “328-329” (followed by pll. 328 & 329), 97* (followed by pl. 297), “370-371 et 372” (followed by pll. “370-371” (double-page) and 372)). With 77 engraved plates: a portrait of Redouté and 76 plates (numbered according to the text leaves above except as indicated above), of which one is folding (pl. “370-371”) and all but one (pl. 372) is stipple-engraved, colored à la poupée.
Vol. II: π-2π1, 176, 283, 397, 284, 423, 58, 110, 12, 387, 483, 462, 446, 288, 407, 460, 434, 451, 380, 178, 223, 314, 470, 121, “455-456,” 457, 396, 197, 209, 107, 331, 354, 201, 228, 477, 478, 238, 207, 206, 390, 359, 472, 367, 108, 192, 80, 227, 332, 348, 322, 27, 181, 408, 294, 196, 81, 293, 173, 266, 473, 19, 20, 373, 388, 381, 182. 67 leaves, pp. [134] (half-title, blank, dedication to “Citoyen Chaptal,” blank; 130pp. text, 2pp. per plate except for “455-456” (followed by pll. 455 & 456), 477 (followed by pl. 467) and 478 (followed by pl. 468)). With 66 stipple-engraved plates, colored à la poupée (numbered according to the text leaves above except as noted above).
Vol. III: π1, 79, 1, 163, 54, 54*, 92, 91, 430, 313, 114, 84, 82, 346, 113, 394, 194, 208, 175, 484, 28, 257, 131, 51, 222, 67, 476, 200, 41, 246, 44, 112, 267, 377, 267, 36, 136, 425, 273, 244, 141, 343, 5, 400, 11, 142, 125, 419, 123, 399, 90, 35, 264, 361 (corrected in MS to “364”), 122, 124, 369, 174, 60. 58 leaves, pp. [116] (title, blank; 114pp. text, 2pp. per plate except for 54 (not followed by a plate) and 54* (followed pl. 54)). With 57 stipple-engraved plates, colored à la poupée (numbered according to the text leaves above, except for 361 (followed by pl. 364) and 267 (followed by pl. 65)).
Vol. IV: π-2π1, 398, 39, 204, 320, 436, “382-383,” 151, 13, 106, 15, 16, 3, 247, 14, 475, 334, 202, 203, 355, 260, 170, 169, 336, 296, 376, 340, 351, 152, 375, 23, 309, 299, 318, 263, 172, 236, 350, 366, 189, 356, 237, 235, “261--262,” 338, 211, 420, 438, 29, 458, 349, 365, 310, 18, 306, 481, 48, 292, 339, 295, 212, 337. 63 leaves, pp. [126] (half-title, blank, title, blank; 122pp. text, 2pp. per plate except for “382-383” (followed by pll. 382 & 383), “261--262” (followed by pll. 261 & 262) and 475 (followed by pl. 465)). With 63 stipple-engraved plates, colored à la poupée (numbered according to the text leaves above except as noted above).
Vol. V: π-2π1, 85, 128, 88, 426, 96, 138, 433, 335, 64, 251, 30, 86, 139, 362, 87, 109, 34, 137, 89, 140, 432, 198, 126, 441, 431, 127, 406, 129, 476, 389, 144, 49, 162, 59, 297, 22, 52, 2, 135, 150, 217, 210, 301, 199, 276, 146, 7, 105, 104, 378, 145, 103, 395, 475, 83, 43. 57 leaves, pp. [114] (half-title, blank, title, blank; text, 2pp. per plate; 476 (the “7” struck through in graphite) is followed by pl. 466). With 55 stipple-engraved plates, colored à la poupée (numbered according to the text leaves above, except as noted above).
Vol. VI: π-2π1, 57, 392, 183, 386, 216, 393, 442, 249, 25, 26, 53, 53*, 45, 71, 56, “307 et 308,” “443-444,” 364, 231, 232, 132, 405, 24, 177, 410, 188, 429, 220, 427, 159, 428, 480, 157, 160, 158, 409, 459, 17, 486, 164, 404. 43 leaves, pp. [86] (half-title, blank, title, blank; 2pp. text per plate except for 53 (no plate), 53* (followed by pl. 53), “307 et 308” (followed by pll. 307 & 308), “443-444” (followed by pll. 443 & 444), 364 (struck out and corrected in graphite to “361,” followed by pl. 361) and 428 (followed by pll. 427 & 428)). With 43 stipple-engraved plates, colored à la poupée (numbered according to the text leaves above, except as noted above).
Vol. VII: π-2π1, 63, 439, 221, 418, 120, 302, 302*, 253, 234, 422, 242, 312, 333, 417, 143, 474, 437, 384, 352, 187, 414, 358, 155, 413, 153, 154, 8, 471, 156, 412, 226, 415, 342, 215, 191, 269, 255, 360, 287, 270, “448-449,” 73, 74, 75, 248, 147, 243, 229, 315, 244, 258, 72. 54 leaves, pp. [108] (half-title, blank, title, blank; 2pp. text per plate except 302 (no plate), 302* (followed by pl. 302), 474 (corrected in graphite, followed by pl. 464), “448-449” (followed by pll. 448 & 449) and 75 (followed by pll. 76 & 75)). With 54 stipple-engraved plates, colored à la poupée (numbered according to the text leaves above, except as noted above).
Vol. VIII: π-2π1, 411, “279--280” (followed by pll. 279 & 280), 323, 330, 290, 298, 130, 317, 254, 435, 304, 205, 321, 116, 224, 190, 225, 167, 421, 166, 149, 250, 47, 171, 282, 353 (followed by pl. 352), 68 (followed by pl. 66), 275, 230, 185, 341, “77 et 78” (followed by pll. 77 & 78), 259, 5 (followed by pl. 6), 256, 324, 168, 239, 94, 95, 134, 133, 161, 291, 38, 37, 445, 478, 477, 219, 111, 165, 184, 186, 193, 440, 447, 416, 42, “401 et 402” (followed by pll. 401 & 402), “277--278” (followed by pll. 277 & 278), “326-327” (followed by pll. 326 & 327), 461, 93, 453, 245, 473; χ-2χ1, 11, 3χ-8χ1. 83 leaves, pp. [166] (half-title, blank, title, blank; 2pp. text per plate except “279--280” (followed by pll. 279 & 280), 353 (followed by pl. 352), 68 (followed by pl. 66), “77 et 78” (followed by pll. 77 & 78), 5 (followed by pl. 6), “401 et 402” (followed by pll. 401 & 402), “277--278” (followed by pl. 277 & 278), “326-327” (followed by pll. 326 & 327) and 473 (followed by pl. 463); 4pp. corrigenda, 8pp. Latin table, 5pp. French table, blank). [≈iv, 144, xviii] With 72 stipple-engraved plates, colored à la poupée (numbered according to the text leaves above, except as noted above).
Collated complete (save the title-page of vol. II and the half-title of vol. III) against Stafleu-Cowan and MacPhail in Redoutéana: 488 plates in toto: an engraved portrait of Redouté and 487 stipple-engraved “botanical portraits” numbered 1-486 (with the following anomalies: 2 plates numbered “6” (following 5* and 6), 2 plates numbered “44” (following 44 and 244), no pl. 55 but 2 plates numbered “54” (following 54 and 54*), no pl. 98 but 2 plates numbered “97” (following 97 and 97*), no pl. 353 but 2 plates numbered “352” (following 352 and 2352); “370-371” is one double-page plate; pll. 463-468 are mis-numbered 473-478 respectively); all the botanical plates are stipple-engraved; all the botanical plates save pl. 372, which is black as issued, are colored à la poupée and finished by hand.
Bound in contemporary speckled and marbled calf. On the boards, a blind roll border surrounding a triple roll border gilt with corner-fleurons gilt. On the spine, six raised bands. Gilt florals in the panels. Title and author gilt to red sheep in the second panel, number gilt to red sheep in the third. Gilt roll to the edges of the boards. All edges of the text-block speckled blue.
Bumps to the fore-corners throughout, with a little scuffing generally. Internally, some passages of worming (mostly at and adjacent to the boards), essentially all marginal. Scattered tanning, generally mild but on on a handful of plates moderate. Corrigenda and tables (in vol. VIII) cockled and moderately tanned. A little mild damp-staining to the fore-edge of a handful of plates in vol. V. Lacking the title-pages of voll. II and III; the dedication, usually bound in vol. I, is here bound in vol. II. Utterly unsophisticated and intact, with tissue guards at each plate (occasionally wrinkled or torn).
Pierre-Joseph Redouté (1759–1840) floated above the political changes in France. He went from the patronage of Marie Antoinette — made desinatteur du Cabinet de la Reine in 1788 — to the dedication in the first volume (marked “year 10” of the revolutionary calendar) to “Citoyen Chaptal,” back to the patronage of the Empress Josephine and on through the Restoration; doubtless had he lived into the Second Republic he would have found great favor. He haunted the gardens first of the Petit Trianon and then superintended those at the chateau of Malmaison, which Josephine had bought. Provided with the raw materials by these extraordinary women, Redouté set about illustrating.
The title is somewhat misleading, since the work includes flowers from other families (irises, orchids, etc.), but Redouté’s curiosity and ambition can be excused. The work stretched 14 years, with 80 livraisons (fascicles) of 6 plates apiece (the 80th having 12). The originals — executed in watercolor on vellum, which Arader handled — were translated into multi-color stipple-engraving; Redouté is said to have introduced the technique to France. Borrowed from Bartolozzi, it allowed faithful reproduction of color, avoiding the vagaries of individual colorists, making the book not only beautiful but reliable. The technique is laborious, and only about two hundred sets were made.
Beginning in 1807 there was a parallel issue of the work issued on large paper; Redouté noted that only 18 examples were made up. This issue, which was said to have been colored by Redouté himself, was eventually bound alphabetically by Linnaeus’ genera. The owner of the present set, who has left no traces of his identity, must have been aware of this useful arrangement and, not having one of the vanishingly rare large-paper sets, had his set bound aspirationally to match.[1]
Hunt, Redoutéana 10; Nissen BBI 1597; Stafleu-Cowan 8747.
[1] Vol. I: Abama ossifraga to Amaryllis vittata; Vol. II: Anigosanthus flavida to Cyrtanthus vittatus; Vol. III: Dianella cœrulea to Globba nutans; Vol. IV: Hæmanthus albiflos to Iris xiphium; Vol. V: Ixia anemonaeflora to Limodorum tankerwillae; Vol. VI: Maranta arundinacea to Neottia speciosa; Vol. VII: Ornithogalum arabicum to Pontederia cordata; Vol. VIII: Sagittaria ovata to Witsenia maura.
Item #JLR0465
Price: $485,000