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PIERRE-JOSEPH BUC'HOZ (1731-1807)
Le Grand Jardin de l'Univers, ou se trouvent Coloriées, les Plantes les plus Belles, les plus curieuses et les plus rares des quatre parties de la Terre, formant la continuation de l'herbier de la Chine, de la Collection de Fleurs de la Chine et de l'Europe, des dons merveilleux dans le règne Végétal et du jardin D'Eden. Paris: chez l'Auteur, 1785-[1791].
2 volumes, 2° (425 x 280mm). Without text, engraved throughout. Calligraphic titles, 172 hand-coloured plates (of ?186). (Small tears to upper blank margins of plates numbered VIII and IX in vol.I.) Contemporary French mottled calf gilt, red morocco lettering-pieces on spines (spines chipped at head and foot, joints slightly split, extremities rubbed). Provenance: Countess [Mary] Dalhousie (d.1960, book-label).
A fine copy of a work rarely seen at auction; it would appear that no complete copy has appeared in the last 20 years, the only auction record is for a copy of vol.I sold by Christie's New York (lot 19, 4 June 1997). Despite the somewhat dubious reputation of Buc'hoz as a recorder of scientific accuracy, the artistic merits of the plates are beyond question. A correct collation of the work is another matter: it is traditionally described as complete with 200 plates. However, a catalogue issued by Buc'hoz (Dissertation en forme de liste des planches que M. Buc'hoz a publiées sur les plantes, bound into another of his works in the British Library shelf mark 452.h.15), which purports to be a complete stock list, states that the present work is complete with 186 plates, in addition a mounted extract at the front of vol.I of the present work, from an early bibliography/bookseller's catalogue, claims that the work 'en paroit un volume & 6 cahiers, prix 240 livres'. One of the reasons Buc'hoz was held in such low esteem by the scientific botanists was because of his habit of re-issuing plates with different attributions. To judge from the variant numbering of plates in various copies of vol.I it would appear that the titles were little more than a marketing ploy, forming a convenient umbrella under which to gather, more or less indescriminately, a collection of plates which were offered as a 'new' work. (Vol.I is here numbered: 1-28, 26[bis], 30-75, 72[bis], 76, 78-100). Dunthorne 67; Great Flower Books p.52; Nissen BBI 289; Pritzel 1331; Stafleu & Cowan TL2 891. (2)
Le Grand Jardin de l'Univers, ou se trouvent Coloriées, les Plantes les plus Belles, les plus curieuses et les plus rares des quatre parties de la Terre, formant la continuation de l'herbier de la Chine, de la Collection de Fleurs de la Chine et de l'Europe, des dons merveilleux dans le règne Végétal et du jardin D'Eden. Paris: chez l'Auteur, 1785-[1791].
2 volumes, 2° (425 x 280mm). Without text, engraved throughout. Calligraphic titles, 172 hand-coloured plates (of ?186). (Small tears to upper blank margins of plates numbered VIII and IX in vol.I.) Contemporary French mottled calf gilt, red morocco lettering-pieces on spines (spines chipped at head and foot, joints slightly split, extremities rubbed). Provenance: Countess [Mary] Dalhousie (d.1960, book-label).
A fine copy of a work rarely seen at auction; it would appear that no complete copy has appeared in the last 20 years, the only auction record is for a copy of vol.I sold by Christie's New York (lot 19, 4 June 1997). Despite the somewhat dubious reputation of Buc'hoz as a recorder of scientific accuracy, the artistic merits of the plates are beyond question. A correct collation of the work is another matter: it is traditionally described as complete with 200 plates. However, a catalogue issued by Buc'hoz (Dissertation en forme de liste des planches que M. Buc'hoz a publiées sur les plantes, bound into another of his works in the British Library shelf mark 452.h.15), which purports to be a complete stock list, states that the present work is complete with 186 plates, in addition a mounted extract at the front of vol.I of the present work, from an early bibliography/bookseller's catalogue, claims that the work 'en paroit un volume & 6 cahiers, prix 240 livres'. One of the reasons Buc'hoz was held in such low esteem by the scientific botanists was because of his habit of re-issuing plates with different attributions. To judge from the variant numbering of plates in various copies of vol.I it would appear that the titles were little more than a marketing ploy, forming a convenient umbrella under which to gather, more or less indescriminately, a collection of plates which were offered as a 'new' work. (Vol.I is here numbered: 1-28, 26[bis], 30-75, 72[bis], 76, 78-100). Dunthorne 67; Great Flower Books p.52; Nissen BBI 289; Pritzel 1331; Stafleu & Cowan TL2 891. (2)