Hooker, Joseph Dalton

Three title-pages, the first with tinted lithographed vignette.  Illustration: 30 handcolored lithographic plates after J. D. Hooker by Walter H. Fitch.

3 parts in one volume, folio (19 7/8 x 14 1/2 in.; 506 x 368 mm). Binding: Half black morocco, spine gilt-lettered, green buckram sides, edges gilt.  



Some dust-soiling to margins of plates, plate 1 with 3-inch separation at gutter, plate 3 with small nick at top margin, plates 6 and 7 with lightly discolored vertical band from exhibition mylar, also affecting tissue-guards. Binding with some wear and fraying at edges, front cover with some blistering. 

De Belder sale 156; Great Flower Books, p. 101; Nissen 911; An Oak Spring Flora 104; Plesch sale 354; Sitwell and Blunt, p. 60; Stafleu TL2 2969

Some dust-soiling to margins of plates, plate 1 with 3-inch separation at gutter, plate 3 with small nick at top margin, plates 6 and 7 with lightly discolored vertical band from exhibition mylar, also affecting tissue-guards. Binding with some wear and fraying at edges, front cover with some blistering.
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Hooker's superb work on rhododendrons, one of the most attractive botanical books of the nineteenth century.

Joseph Dalton Hooker (1817–1911) spent several years exploring Sikkim, as well as parts of Nepal and Tibet. His field notes were sent back to England from India to his father, Sir William Hooker, who edited this work, which contains beautiful illustrations of many of the best species of rhododendron along with accounts of their discovery. J. H. Hooker's studies of the geography and meterology of the area were fundamental, and included the explanation of the terracing of mountain valleys by the formation of glacial lakes.

The plates were lithographed by Walter Hood Fitch, the most prolific of all botanical artists. His work in association with Sir Joseph Hooker and J. H. Hooker is among his finest. "Fitch had the greatest competence of any botanical painter who has yet appeared in drawing the rhododendron …" (Great Flower Books).