Hoola van Nooten, Berthe: Fleurs, fruits et feuillages
choisis de la flore et pomone de l’ile de Java. Ouvrage dédié a sa
majesté la reine de Hollande.
Bruxelles, É. Tarlier, 1863-1864, 1.
edition, pp. [i, iii-vi, dedication and preface], 40 chromolithographed
plates by the author, lithographed by G. Severeyns, each with a leaf of
text, large folio (435 x 578 mm), half calf with gilt-lettered and ruled
cloth, spine with raised bands and gilt decoration. An exceptional fine
copy of the first edition in an attractive binding. Only the title-page
with slight foxing.€ 23.000 The forty large plates in … were
printed in Belgium from Van Nooten's original sketches by P.
Depannemaeker, using the new technique of chromolithography. … Van Nooten
was clearly a more than competent artist, for the splendid tropical
plants, with their lush foliage, vividly coloured flowers and exotic
fruit, have been depicted with great skill. She managed to accentuate the
splendour of each species by adopting a style that combined great
precision and clarity with a touch of neo-Baroque exuberance, revelling in
the rich forms and colours of the tropics. The reader's eye is immediately
captured by the dark leaves, shown furled or crumpled or partly nibbled
away by insects, the delicately rendered details of the follicles and
seeds, and the heavy clusters of flowers that cascade down the page. The
excellent reproduction of the artist's drawings in the form of
chromolithographs lends an added tactility to these striking images (An Oak Spring
flora). Text in English and French. The spectacular colour-plates are often
finished by hand. They depict flowering trees, shrubs, decorative flowers
and plants with edible fruits.
* Nissen BBI 931; Great flower books p. 60;
Stafleu & Cowan 3025; Landwehr 79; An Oak Spring flora
87 (3. edition of 1880).
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