Lot Description
John Henry Elwes (1846-1922).
A Monograph of the genus Lilium... [with:] Arthur GROVE. A Supplement to Elwes' Monograph [and:] W.B. TURILL. A Supplement to Elwes' Monograph. London: printed by Taylor & Francis (Monograph and Supplement parts I-VII), the Chiswick Press (Supplement part VIII) and K.G. Lohse (Supplement part IX), [1877]-1880, 1933-1940, 1960-1962. 10 volumes (Monograph and Supplement parts I-IX) bound in 4, 2° (550 x 373mm; 558 x 379mm). Wood-engraved title borders, 78 hand-coloured lithographic plates, one double-page, after W.H. Fitch and Lilian Snelling, 5 coloured collotype and 5 chromolithographic plates after Margaret Stones, coloured map, illustrations. (Lacking the photogravure of the Himalayas, two plates and their accompanying text leaves in the Monograph cut down at margins and mounted, another plate slightly torn at upper blank margin, the map cut short at margins, text and plates in Grove's Supplement mounted on guards.) Two volumes in early 20th-century red half morocco, the Monograph gilt edged, parts VIII-IX of the Supplement as issued in original wrappers.
ELWES' RENOWNED MONOGRAPH ON THE LILY WITH THE FULL COMPLEMENT OF SUPPLEMENTS. The original Monograph was issued between 1877 and 1880 with 48 plates after Fitch, and was limited to 250 copies. Its long-standing reputation led to the issue of Grove's Supplement in seven parts between 1933 and 1940 with 30 plates after Lilian Snelling, again limited to 250 copies. A further two parts to the Supplement were published in 1960 and 1962 with plates after Margaret Stones, limited to 1000 and 500 copies respectively. The Monograph itself contained illustrations of most of the Lily species then known in the British Isles. Much of the success of the plates is due to the fact that live specimens were used, often accompanied by enlarged details of the bulbs and leaves. Elwes was aware that discoveries in the Himalayan region would not cease, and the Supplement by his friend and fellow enthusiast, Arthur Grove, includes 25 newly-introduced Eastern Asiatic lilies, and for the first time the Genus Notholirion. The final two parts to the Supplement by W.B. Turrill contain the smaller proportion of new lilies introduced since 1940. Nissen BBI 594; Great Flower Books p. 56; Stafleu & Cowan 1664; Tomasi Oak Spring Flora p. 397. (4)
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