Mordaunt de Launay, Jean Claude Michel, and Jean Louis Auguste Loiseleur-Deslongchamps

Half-titles and cumulative plate lists (Latin and French) in all vols., 8-page list of subscribers in final vol. Illustration: 575 fine handcolored engraved plates (unnumbered, although the text assigns numbers to the images; 6 folding) after Pancrace Bessa, Pierre Joseph Redouté, and Pierre Antoine Poiteau by P. F. Barrois, S. Goulet, A. F. Dennel, Bigant, Lejuene, and others.

8 volumes (9 7/8 x 6 5/8 in.; 250 x 168 mm). Binding: Contemporary French red morocco, covers with gilt border of fillets and floral-roll, flat spines gilt in five compartments, green tree-marbled pastedowns, orange tree-marbled free endpapers in vols. 1–4, various green marbled endpapers in vols. 5–8, gilt edges, green silk ribbon-markers.



Scattered light browning and foxing, chiefly marginal, although more pervasive in vols. 1 and 6. Bindings rather rubbed, a few covers with minor scrapes or stains, front hinge of vol. 8 and both hinges of vol. 7 cracked, vol. 1 shaken. 

Cleveland Collections 795; De Belder sale 246; Great Flower Books, p. 159; Nissen 2323; Plesch sale 474; Pritzel 5586; Stafleu & Cowan TL2 4952

Scattered light browning and foxing, chiefly marginal, although more pervasive in vols. 1 and 6. Bindings rather rubbed, a few covers with minor scrapes or stains, front hinge of vol. 8 and both hinges of vol. 7 cracked, vol. 1 shaken.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
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.

A near-fine first edition set of perhaps the best of the small-format French flower books, intended, as noted in the introduction for "la bibliothèque du savant, de l’homme de gout, dans le cabinet de l’amateur, et dans l’atelier de l’artisté." The illuminating introduction also provides a historical and geographical survey of all the most important botanical works published in Europe and maintains that the hand-coloring of the plates in the present work is more accurate than the color-printed plates in contemporaneous French botanical publications. The author further asserts that because the text of Herbier général de l'amateur is much more discursive, the work is also superior to such English periodicals as William Curtis's Botanical Magazine; or, Flower-Garden Displayed and Henry C. Andrews’s Botanist's Repository, for New, and Rare Plants.

The original drawings for the beautiful and botanically accurate plates are mostly by Pancrace Bessa, who studied with Pierre Joseph Redouté and Gerard Van Spaendonck, but Redouté himself contributed a few, as did Pierre Antoine Poiteau. Exotic species (including several early depictions of native Australian plants) and highly decorative flowering plants predominate, although some fruits are depicted. The drawings were commissioned by Charles X, King of France, who gave them as a New Year’s gift to his daughter-in-law—and Bessa’s pupil—the Duchesse de Berry, in 1826. The Duchesse de Berry bequeathed the drawings to her sister, Teresa Cristina, later Empress Consort of Brazil. The set subsequently changed hands several times but remained together in Rio de Janeiro until it was dispersed at auction by Paulo Campos-Porto at Lewis S. Hart Gallery, Beverly Hills, 17 November 1947.