First edition. Though not highly esteemed as a scientific botanist, Buc'hoz was an energetic naturalist and an indefatigable compiler of botanical fact who stands as one of the most prolific French writers on this subject during his day. The primary objectives in his most important works were comprehensiveness and utility. In the present volume he provides an annotated catalogue of all plants useful in ornamental gardening or for display in orangeries and greenhouses. Over a thousand different varieties are listed, nearly all of which are accompanied by commentary on their special qualities and use in gardens. The work is divided into two main parts: the first is a general listing of both domestic and exotic plants; the second confines itself to hardy plants native to the region around Paris. A final chapter is devoted specifically to plants useful in the creation of hedges and enclosures. 8vo (19.8 x 12 cm); 16 + 288 pp.

A somewhat mysterious piece on art vellum having the appearance of a mailing or shipping label, but, surely being an elaborate mock-up for one or the other. “The design is signed in a monogram for “R H sc”. The sender’s address is “ Clos de la Garoupe/ Cap d’Antibes/ Alpes-Maritimes. “ in decorative black lettering. Opposite is the message:” Les Fleurs sont expédiées aussitôt qu’elles sont coupées.” Below this is an address space beginning with a decorative “M” and below, “Spécialité d’Anémones /et de la Fraises. This text is arranged in the upper diagonal space of the piece. In the lower diagonal is a splendid design of a young woman holding strawberries and surrounded by anemones. This illustration is enhanced in green, gray and rose. The Cap d’Antibes was a strong horticultural region in the 19th century. Clos de la Garoupe was once a farm ( or nursery?) before Antibes became the playground of the rich. Flowers from Cap d’Antibes. Impression 17 x 23.5 on sheet measuring 28 x 35 cm. With custom matting.

An early manual on carnations and pinks addressed specifically to the amateur jardinier fleuriste at a period when the carnation was particularly in vogue. The first hundred pages deal with various aspects of cultivation - in pots, in greenhouses, and in the ground - while the remainder is devoted to an extensive listing of varieties. These entries describe each variety carefully and are full of observations on their particular qualities and special requirements, opinions as to their value and beauty, and occasional reference to the novelty or age of a particular variety. This work has been erroneously attributed to Goube, who wrote an eighteenth century work with a similar title. Its true author is unknown. Musset-Pathay 1379. 8vo (15.2 x 9 cm); (iv) + 164 pp.

The nurseryman Jean-Pierre Vibert was “le grand rosiériste de la première moitié du XIX siècle... Ces catalogues constituent une source précieuse pour la connaissance des anciennes ‘Roses de France’” (François Joyaux. LA ROSE DE FRANCE, pages 123 and 125). Jean- Pierre Vibert first published his OBSERVATIONS SUR LA NOMENCLATURE ET LE CLASSEMENT DES ROSES, including a catalogue of roses, in 1819. It went into at least eleven editions, but, the catalogue of roses published with it would be altered each year. In this copy roses added in 1830 are included; roses that did not sell well were also removed. The roses are identified by name, inventory number, type, price, color and nuance, and the date of first entrance” into commerce. “le grand rosiériste de la première moitié du XIX siècle” Stock 3059; Werger & Burton 1245. 8vo (19.1 x 14.7 cm); 56 pp.

The four large hand-colored folding plates to Siebeck’s third French edition, translated from the German by J. Rothchild. These four plates - in this example, linen-backed into two - form a stunning and very large colored lithographed image 72 x 54 inches wide, that is most often missing from this third Parisian edition. Siebeck, director of public parks and gardens for the city of Vienna, had considerable success with his park and garden plans, and with his writing; in addition to his German publications, his work was translated into French and English (Joseph Newton's PICTURESQUE GARDEN PLANS, 1864; THE LANDSCAPE GARDENER, 1876; and R.H. Westley's ELEMENTS OF THE ART OF LANDSCAPE GARDENING, 1861). This enormous plan accompanied the combination of two titles which had originally appeared separately: ELEMENTS D'HORTICULTURE OU JARDINS PITTORESQUES... and GUIDE PRATIQUE DU JARDINIER-PPAYSAGISTE. The former was issued with the four plates that combined to form one very large plan, and the latter with the 24 separate plates. These would correspond with the original German editions, DIE ELEMENTE DE LANDSCHAFTSGARTENKUNST IN EINEM PLANE DARGESTELLT...Leipzig, 1861, and IDEEN ZU KLEINEN GARTEN-ANLAGEN AUF VIERUNDZWANZIG COLORITEN PLANEN. Leipzig (1857-) 60. sEE gANAY 269, 3RD EDITION, 1870 for a complete explanation. The large hand-colored plan, composed of four folding plates, shows the outline of buildings, a long body of flowing water which forms a lake at one point, and several winding roads or paths interrupted by structures and lined with carefully placed individual or massed deciduous and coniferous trees. Rare and striking. Yes, that enormous plan. See Dochnahl p. 149 for earlier German editions. Loose, as issued, in printed portfolios (50 x 37 cm); 4 folding hand-colored lithographed plates, linen-backed into two larger plates in this copy.

Lothian was gardener to W. A. Campbell of Ormsary. This scarce volume, the first English work devoted wholly to alpine plants, appears to be his only published book. It begins with instructions for the location and construction of rockeries, ponds and bogs and the arrangement of plants in the rockery. A second section gives directions for cultivation and treatment, arranged by season, with separate discussion of "tenderer and rarer" plants, as well as advice on cultivation in Wardian cases. The appendix lists nearly 1000 varieties of recommended plants. The illustrations include two engraved plates showing rockery layouts and four hand-colored plates of plants. The first English work devotd wholly to alpines 12mo (16 x 10.2 cm); iii-xiv + 17-84 pp. + decorative illustrated title and 6 plates (four colored).

Thomassin was sent by Colbert to study in Rome for four years before returning to France in 1680 and becoming court engraver to Louis XIV. Among his first projects after his return was to draw and publish illustrations of all the sculpture, ancient and modern, used to decorate the palace and gardens at Versailles. The first edition of this work appeared in Paris in 1694. It was quickly reissued, in the edition offered here, by Pierre Mortier in Amsterdam. This Dutch edition includes the same text and plates, but adds a folding engraved plan of the gardens of Versailles and a translation of the text into Latin, Italian and Dutch. The plates depict not only the statuary, but also the fountains, hermae and vases distributed throughout the gardens. A rare second Paris edition with 26 additional plates was published in the same year as the first, but that edition also appeared without the garden plan. Ganay 37; Berlin Cat 4212. Small 4to (19.1 x 13.8 cm); 59 + (1) + (1) + (1) pp. + engraved title, 228 engraved plates, and a folding plan (49.5 x 32.5 cm).

First collected edition. Reef Point on Mt. Desert Island, Maine, was built for Farrand's family in 1883. The gardens and library were eventually opened to the public, and when her husband died in 1945 Beatrix established the Max Farrand Memorial Fund to expand the activities of the gardens and library. For this organization she wrote and published 16 issues of the Reef Point Gardens Bulletin and included in it a variety of articles on horticulture and natural history, in general, and the gardens and grounds of Reef Point in particular. The Reef Point Garden horticulturist, Amy Magdalene Garland, also contributed articles to the bulletins. The bulletins were collected (together with the unpublished 17th bulletin in which Farrand writes her own memorial) and issued in 1963 as a tribute. 8vo (22.6 x 15 cm); 116 pp. (unpaginated) with numerous text illustrations from photographs and with plans.