Rare books from Florilegius

Complete set of 29 volumes (10 on Europe, 8 on Asia, 4 on Africa, 4 on Asia, 3 supplements) bound in 34 of this monumental Italian work. Revised second edition in octavo following the first edition in folio of 1816-1834. 1,780 handcolored (some tinted or b/w) copperplate engravings by Sasso, Corsi, Giarre, Verico, Migliavacca, etc., after illustrations by Landriani, Sanquirico, Pelagio Pelagi, Bramati, Monticelli, and other artists. Includes 37 folding maps, engravings and tables. Multi-volume series with 11,863 pages on the customs and costumes of the people of the world compiled by Ferrario with help from Carlo Magnetti, Robustiano Gironi, Ambroglio Levati and Francesco Rossi. It offers a mine of historical, geographic, ethnological and anthropological information relating to parts of the world that were still barely explored at the time. Text in Italian.Condition: bindings solid, marble boards scuffed and wrinkled, interior mostly bright and fresh, tinted and handcolored plates clean and fresh. A… Read More

Rare complete copy of Keika Hasegawa's Keika Hyakugiku (100 chrysanthemums by Keika)(The British Museum only has Volumes 1 and 2, the Smithsonian only 2 and 3.)75 colour woodblock prints (all published), including eight double-page, from this seminal book on the cultivation of chrysanthemums. Volumes 1 and 2 published in July 1893 and Volume 3 published in December 1903. Chrysanthemum cultivation came to Japan from China in the 8th century and the flower was later adopted as the Emperor's crest. Over the centuries, extraordinary hybrids of elegant shapes and vibrant colours were produced, many of which are recorded in this book.Little is known about the artist Keika Hasegawa. (The name Keika is usually a woman's name.) Active in the final years of the 19th century, he also produced books of patterns for kimono and washi paper such as Biko Zukan (Art Book) 1894, and Kyoka Zuan (Patterns of Kyoto), 1897. Original wraps are grubby and worn, interior slightly browned and edges worn. A few prints with… Read More

A beautiful guide to the identification of woods by their grains and colours, a "Cabinet of Wood."With 66 fine hand-coloured engraved plates depicting over 550 types of European and exotic woods from India, China and America in cross section, each with a page of wood names in Dutch, German, French, English and Latin. The title page states that the book was meant "for natural history lovers and keepers of cabinets of natural curiosities." The book was issued in parts from 1773 and thus the number of plates varies from 24 (Royal Botanic Gardens Kew) to 66 (here). The final 1791 edition had a different title and 106 plates, including a 40-plate supplement. Jan Christiaan Sepp (1739-1811) was the son of the German instrument maker and cartographer Christiaan Sepp. J.C. Sepp established himself as a bookseller and publisher specializing in natural history.Martinus Houttuyn (1720-1798), born in Hoorn, studied medicine in Leiden and moved to Amsterdam in 1753. Houttuyn published his own natural history books… Read More

A beautiful copy of Ernst Haeckel's influential book on natural history that married art and science.First complete book edition following the original edition in parts published from 1899-1904. With the 51-page supplement. 100 fine plates, some printed in colour, chromolithographed by Adolf Giltsch after sketches by Ernst Haeckel. "First edition of this famous and marvelous work which had a considerable influence on decorative design in the Jugendstil and Art Nouveau period during the beginning of the 20th century and depicts fantastic, real forms and structures found in animal and plant life." Many artists of the era, such as French glass designers Emile Galle and Rene Lalique, kept a copy of Haeckel's illustrations at home. French architect Rene Binet incorporated forms of Radiolarians in his work on the Porte Monumentale at the 1900 Paris Exposition. Dutch architect Henrick Petrus Berlage designed a chandelier based on Discomedusae jellyfish. German photographer Karl Blossfeld also explicitly… Read More

Beautiful copy of the rare first edition of this standard work on medieval European armour. With 80 fine illustrations drawn and engraved by Sir Samuel Rush Meyrick (some engraved by Richard Bridgens and William Maddocks). Complete with three frontispieces with calligraphic titles and engraved vignettes drawn by Richard Bridgens and engraved by Charles Heath, 70 hand-coloured aquatint plates drawn by Meyrick and engraved by himself or William Maddocks, 10 engraved plates drawn by Meyrick and etched by Richard Bridgens, and 27 illuminated chapter initials.Volume I: 22 hand-coloured plates (VIII to XXX) & 8 b/w etchings (I to VII, XXVI), pp. lxxvii, 206Volume II: 35 hand-coloured plates (XXXI to LVI), 1 b/w engraving (XLIV), pp. 297 Volume III: 13 hand-coloured plates (LVII to LXXIX) & 1 b/w (LXXX) , pp.147, unpaginated 132-page glossaryThe plates are essentially a catalogue of the collection of ancient armour collected by Samuel and his son Llewelyn, with a few items drawn from illuminated manuscripts… Read More

A very good, near-complete set of the first German-language history of costume, one of the most extensive and detailed encyclopedias of costume, which has long been notoriously hard to find complete.
Complete in 10 octavo volumes and 2 oblong folio volumes.
With 626 hand-coloured copperplates (423 in the 10 octavo text volumes and 203 in two oblong-folio plate volumes).
A fine uniformly bound set of the 10 octavo volumes, with mixed editions of the oblong folio plate volumes and index volume. Includes the often-missing volumes Annotations and supplements (Ammerfungen und Erganzungen) by Leopold Ziegelhauser published in 1837.
As early as the mid-19th century, it was described as "rare and difficult to find complete" (Bulletin du bouquinist, 1859).
Robert von Spalart (died 1808) was chief of protocol at the Royal and Imperial Court of Vienna and co-editor of the Viennese Critical Theatre Journal. (Elke Gaugele ed., Fashion Knowledge, 2022.) The first volumes edited by Ignaz Albrecht were published in… Read More

Very good copy of the increasingly hard-to-find monograph on the extinct dodo, Raphus cucullatus, and Rodrigues solitaire, Pezophaps solitaria.First edition of this finely illustrated classicComplete in two parts: Part I. History and External Characters of the Dodo, Solitaire and other Extinct Brevipennate Birds by H. E. Strickland, and Part II: Osteology of the Dodo and Solitaire by A.G. Melville. With two hand-coloured lithographs after the famous 17th-century paintings of the dodo by Roelandt SaveryAltogether 18 lithographic illustrations (Numbered I-XV with three bis plates III*, IV*, and IX*) of dodo and solitaire specimens, landscapes, bones, skulls and reconstructions drawn and lithographed by Joseph Dinkel, Tuffen West and Werner, as well as nine woodcuts in the text. With errata slip and 12-page catalogue of new books in rear. Hugh Edwin Strickland (1811-1853) was an English geologist, ornithologist, naturalist and systematist. His works include Outline of the Geology of the Neighbourhood of… Read More

A very good run of the first five volumes from the New Series of this very rare botanical.

Complete with 240 handcoloured botanical plates by Worthington George Smith (212) and Frederick William Burbidge (28)

Flowers include many species of elegant orchids, roses, camellias, dahlias, hyacinths, rhododendrons, pansies, geraniums, and many other popular Victorian garden flowers.

Bernard Quaritch in a General Catalogue of Books in 1874 praises the series for its "beautifully coloured plates" and notes it was already "very scarce."

Five volumes edited by Henry Honywood Dombrain (1,2), Worthington George Smith (3,4) and Frederick William Burbidge (5), published from 1872 to 1876. (Volumes 11 to 15 in the complete series).

The Floral Magazine launched in 1861 and introduced exotic flowers from tropical lands as well as hybrids raised in British nurseries. The lithographic plates were dynamic, full-page botanical illustrations in large format Royal or Imperial Octavo size. Unlike the French and… Read More

A beautifully and vividly hand-coloured copy of this 18th-century ornithological classic.

With 50 vibrantly hand-coloured copperplates after illustrations by Peter Brown

Drawn mainly from specimens or drawings in the cabinets of curiosities of Marmaduke Tunstall (12 birds, 10 insects and one animal), zoologist Thomas Pennant (seven birds), Taylor White, James Lee of Hammersmith, Mr Yeats of Margaret Street, Mr Moon of Hyde Park, apothecaries Richard Green and Mr Jackson, banker Robert Child, Lady Read, zoologist Dr. Ramsay of Edinburgh, ornithologist George Edwards, and the collections of the British Museum and the Royal Society. There are also 20 birds and one insect based on sketches by Pieter Cornelius de Bevere sent from Joan Gideon Loten, Governor of Ceylon for the Dutch East India Company.

Includes critically endangered species such as the red-vented cockatoo Pl. 5, the straw-headed bulbul Pl. 12, and possibly the endangered Mauritius tody, Pl. 28.

Peter Brown was a Dane (according to… Read More

Two complete volumes of the most important Renaissance study of zoology in Latin.

Volume 2, Oviparous Quadrupeds including reptiles and amphibia, and Volume 3, Birds, bound together in one.

With a total of 2 title vignettes and 241 woodcuts, many full-page, credited to Lucas Schan.

Historiae Animalium LIber II: De quadrupedibus oviparis, second edition, Frankfurt, Johann Wechel for Robert Cambier, 1586. 4 ff., 119 pp. with 19 woodcuts.

Historiae Animalium LIber III: De avium natura, first edition, Frankfurt, Johann Wechel for Robert Cambier, 1585. 6 ff., 806 pp. with 222 woodcuts, 13 ff.

The majority of the bird illustrations are believed to be by Lucas Schan, active 1526-58, a natural history artist and wildfowler of Strasbourg.

The woodcut of the Pica Bresillica, or toucan, is "based on a beak sent to Gessner by Giovanni Ferrerio, and the rest of the body was reconstructed from Thevet's Les singularitez de la France antarctique. " The lesser bird of paradise may have been drawn from a specimen… Read More

Very good copy of the rare first edition of John Hill's famous herbal with contemporary hand colour.
With engraved allegorical frontispiece showing Health receiving tribute from Asia, Africa and America by Samuel Wale engraved by Henry Roberts, engraved coat of arms of the Duke of Northumberland on dedication, and 75 engraved botanical plates all finely coloured in a contemporary 18th-century hand.
The 75 plates show approximately 1,500 species of plants, flowers, herbs, vegetables, fruits, ferns, mushrooms, both native to Britain and foreign, all in distinctive 18th-century colour.
Plates drawn and engraved by Boyce, C. Edwards & Matthew Darly, Henry Roberts, R. Benning, etc.
Title page printed in red and black with allegorical vignette of Aesculapius and Flora gathering from the Lap of Nature by Samuel Wale, engraved by Charles Grignion.
Sir John Hill (1714–1775) was an English composer, actor, author and botanist. He contributed to contemporary periodicals and engaged in literary battles with… Read More

Very good complete copy of this Victorian classic of medical botany
Botanical illustrations by Mary Ann Burnett, sister of botanist Gilbert Burnett
First edition in four volumes complete with all 260 botanical illustrations drawn and hand-coloured by the artist
Illustrations of useful flowers, fruits, vegetables, herbs, spices, medicinal plants, botanical dyes, mushrooms, etc.
Zincograph plates by Charles Chabot
One of only 316 copies printed for 262 subscribers
Mary Ann Burnett was the sister of Gilbert Burnett, Professor of Botany at King's College London and the Apothecaries' Society, Chelsea. Mary was an artist and worked as "a colourer of drawings and maps." Her brother's sudden death at age 35 in 1835 left her (and her mother) in "utter destitution." In 1836, the London Medical and Surgical Journal launched an appeal on their behalf with donations accepted at several banks and other locations in London.
Partly to stave off destitution, Mary Ann edited the text of her brother's magnum opus… Read More

Rare complete set of 26 volumes of this zoological masterpiece
24 volumes bound in 12 of the Naturalist's Miscellany and 2 volumes bound in 1 of The Zoological Miscellany by William Elford Leach (the continuation published after George Shaw's death with illustrations by Richard Nodder)
With all 1,185 engraved plates in superb hand-colour
Engraved dedication leaf to Queen Charlotte, 1,065 hand-coloured engraved plates in the Naturalist's Miscellany, and 120 hand-coloured engraved plates in The Zoological MiscellanyA very good copy of this "remarkable serial" (Wood), a monumental work on natural history. Devoted to zoological subjects, and including a high proportion of birds, but also mammals, marine creatures, amphibia, reptiles, shells and insects; each subject is described in both Latin and English, and illustrated by a plate, the majority by George Shaw, Frederick Polydore Nodder and his son Richard Nodder.
Complete sets are very rare, since the work was published in 287 monthly parts over some 24… Read More

Superb set of the first six volumes (of 12) of Friedrich Bertuch's famous Picture-book for Children, an illustrated encyclopedia for children.
Volumes 1 and 2 in half leather, volumes 3 to 6 in original paper wraps.
With all 600 hand-coloured copperplates in near fine condition with superb hand colour.
Text in German and French.
The Picture-Book was published in 12 volumes from 1790 to 1843 and eventually included 1,185 handcoloured copperplates. Bertuch wished to reproduce the magic of discovery, and mixed engravings of plants, animals, shells, minerals, volcanoes and technical inventions in a utopian chaos, so that a child could encounter afresh the wonders of the natural world at the turn of every page.
Although unsigned, the copperplates were overseen by Georg Melchior Kraus and J.H. Lips, after drawings by Th. Götz, C. Graf, C. Horny, Fr. Kaiser, and W. Waitz, and botanicals by Henriette and Conrad Westermayr, F. Götz and C. Ermer. With 118 botanical plates, 76 ornithology, 74 quadrupeds, 53… Read More

Very good copy of the rarest of Louis-Marie Lanté's costume books
Complete with all 100 fine fashion plates of the women of Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Franconia, Kingdom of Naples, etc.
First edition in a contemporary binding by A.-F. David of Courtrai (Kortrijk, West Flanders).
Most plates signed by Lanté and engraver Gatine, a few unsigned credited to Horace Vernet.
Explanatory text by Pierre de la Mésangère, editor of the long-running Parisian fashion magazine Journal des Dames.
A fascinating collection of European fashion plates including pretty servant girls, milkmaids, cooks, chambermaids and fisherwomen, ladies and peasants, fruit sellers and florists. Many in bonnets and aprons, carrying baskets and other tools of their trades, many dressed in their finest clothes or festival costumes. The Spanish plates are particularly fine, with ladies in lace mantilla veils from Madrid, bolero or fandango dancers from Seville, a lady in mourning from Majorca, etc.
Louis-Marie Lanté, 1789-1871, was… Read More