Abbé Lorenzo Berlèse | Iconographie du genre camellia, Paris, [1839]-1841-43

Abbé Lorenzo Berlèse

Iconographie du genre camellia ou description et figures des camellia les plus belles et les plus rares peints d'après nature dans les Serres et sous la direction de M. L'Abbé Berlèse par M.J.-J. Jung. Paris: Abbé de Sainte-Rose, [1839-]1841-1843

FIRST EDITION, 3 volumes, folio (357 x 259mm.), 300 fine stipple-engraved plates, partially printed in colour and finished by hand, contemporary navy calf with gilt romantic style decoration, spines gilt in compartments, pink watered silk endpapers, occasional light spotting

Abbé Lorenzo Berlèse (1784-1863) was an Italian priest who became fascinated with the camellia plant upon his move to Paris, where he was to be a chaplain. Camellias captured the Western imagination when travellers to Japan and China would return with the so-called "Japan rose". It was named camellia by Carl Linneaus, and began to be cultivated successfully and in larger numbers toward the end of the eighteenth century.

Berlèse accumulated a significant collection of camellias over twenty years, eventually deciding to record them in the present monograph. J.J. Jung, a lesser known artist, engraved the plates in a striking and exquisite style, affirming the strong influence of Redouté over botanical works of this period.

LITERATURE:

Nissen BBI 150; Dunthorne 30; Great Flower Books, p. 50