Details
James Maddock, the Elder (d.1806) and Samuel Curtis (1779-1860)
The Florist's Directory, a treatise on the culture of flowers...a new edition, improved. London: J. Green for John Harding, 1822. 8 (230 x 143mm.) 4pp. publisher's advertisements at end. 10 engraved plates (8 hand-coloured). Modern brown half calf gilt, uncut.
The third and most desirable edition of this beautiful and historically important work: "the best work on the florist's flowers of its time." (Cleveland), and a companion work to Curtis' The Beauties of Flora. Maddock and Curtis cover twelve individual plant families (including Tulips, Anemonies and Hyacinths) with a chapter on the cultivation of each. These are preceded by an historical introduction, and the work concludes with a dissertation on soils and manures. The first edition was published in 1792 with six colour plates by Maddock. Samuel Curtis edited and extended the 1810 second edition with two extra plates and text on the cultivation of four new genus. The present third and final edition includes the latest information from the new generation of 'florists' (or nurserymen) and includes two additional uncoloured plates. Curtis, the first cousin and son-in-law of William Curtis, was an important figure in the botanical world of the time. A commercial nurseyman of note, he was a fellow of the Linnean Society, the proprietor of the Botanical Magazine from 1801 to 1846, and author of a number of individual works, including two of the most celebrated of all botanical works: Monograph on the Genus Camellia (London: 1819) and The Beauties of Flora (London: 1806-1820). The latter work should perhaps be considered as an 'atlas' volume to the present work, indeed some of the images of individual flower-heads have been adapted to the present work (e.g. the tulips of plate 2). Cleveland 859; Henrey III,1004.
The Florist's Directory, a treatise on the culture of flowers...a new edition, improved. London: J. Green for John Harding, 1822. 8 (230 x 143mm.) 4pp. publisher's advertisements at end. 10 engraved plates (8 hand-coloured). Modern brown half calf gilt, uncut.
The third and most desirable edition of this beautiful and historically important work: "the best work on the florist's flowers of its time." (Cleveland), and a companion work to Curtis' The Beauties of Flora. Maddock and Curtis cover twelve individual plant families (including Tulips, Anemonies and Hyacinths) with a chapter on the cultivation of each. These are preceded by an historical introduction, and the work concludes with a dissertation on soils and manures. The first edition was published in 1792 with six colour plates by Maddock. Samuel Curtis edited and extended the 1810 second edition with two extra plates and text on the cultivation of four new genus. The present third and final edition includes the latest information from the new generation of 'florists' (or nurserymen) and includes two additional uncoloured plates. Curtis, the first cousin and son-in-law of William Curtis, was an important figure in the botanical world of the time. A commercial nurseyman of note, he was a fellow of the Linnean Society, the proprietor of the Botanical Magazine from 1801 to 1846, and author of a number of individual works, including two of the most celebrated of all botanical works: Monograph on the Genus Camellia (London: 1819) and The Beauties of Flora (London: 1806-1820). The latter work should perhaps be considered as an 'atlas' volume to the present work, indeed some of the images of individual flower-heads have been adapted to the present work (e.g. the tulips of plate 2). Cleveland 859; Henrey III,1004.