| Christoph Jakob Trew — Plantae selectae quarum imagines . pinxit Georgius Dionysius Ehret. |
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Plantae selectae quarum imagines . pinxit Georgius Dionysius Ehret. |
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10 parts in one volume. Folio (20 x 13 5/8 inches). Ten engraved title-pages hand-colored in gold, red and black, 3 mezzotint portraits of Trew, G.D. Ehret, and J. J. Haid, 100 fine hand-colored engraved plates after Georg Dionysius Ehret by Johann Jakob Haid, each with the first word of the caption highlighted in gold (some minor foxing, outer edge of plate 36 shaved just affecting the image, one or two pale dampstains). Modern speckled paneled calf antique. First edition, and the magnum opus of the long and fruitful collaboration between Trew and Georges Ehret. Ehret traveled widely, sending back hundreds of botanical drawings and paintings, which were included in the present work. For "Plantae Selectae", the level of botanical interest and exotic appeal were how the two chose which illustrations to use. They had to decide on a way to present these tropical subjects to the public that had only recently been introduced to Europe. Johannes Jacobus and Johannes Elias Haid translated Ehret's exceptional and remarkably sensuous watercolors into hand-colored engravings that represented everything Ehret's work was about. Ehret had met Linnaeus in 1736 and the latter's work moved the artist to analyze the structure of the plant before trying to represent it. The Latin text was written by Trew and describes each plant, the history of its discovery and additional comments. Each species is compared with descriptions written by other botanical authors in order to definitively classify each plant. This great work was not finished until after Ehret's death, though his instructions were followed as to the layout. Linnaeus praised this work in a letter to Trew, calling it one of the great miracles of the century. Dunthorne 309; "Great Flower Books"; Hunt 539; Nissen 1197. |
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