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Kops, Jan et al.: Flora batava, afgebeeld door en van
wegens J.C. Sepp en Zoon; beschreven door Jan Kops. ... Amsterdam, J.C. Sepp, Leiden, De Breuk & Smits, Haarlem, De erven/Vincent Loosjes & ‘s-Gravenhage, Martinus Nijhoff, (1800-) 1934/1940, 461 parts in 28 volumes, 2238 colour-plates and 1 double-page plain plate, large 4to (230 x 297 mm) volume 1-25 and folio (245 x 318 mm) volume 26-28, half calf (volume 1-7 and 10-18) and half cloth (volume 8-9 and 19-28) with marbled boards and richly gilt-decorated spines, all more or less in the same style. In volume 9 the text and plates of part 129 are bound out of order. An index for the first 8 volumes is bound in volume 8. Added Naamlijst der Nederlandsche gewassen afgebeeld en beschreven in deel I-XXXV der Flora batava by L. Vuyck & H.C. van de Pavord Smits, ‘s-Gravenhage, Martinus Nijhoff, 1920, pp. [ii], 131, small 8vo, printed wrappers. Provenance: The Royal Society of Physics (Koninklijke Maatschappij voor Natuurkunde) Diligentia, located at The Hague, founded in 1793 and still active. Its unobtrusive library stamp in most volumes (on the free front endpaper and sometimes on the title-page). This set is in the most desirable 4to or folio format and is generally in a very fine condition. Extremely rare in this complete state. € 30.000
Monumental work,
started in 1800 by Jan Kops and forming an illustrated survey of all indigenous
plants in the Netherlands. It was issued in instalments, resulting in a total of
461 issues with 2239 plates (numbered 1-2240, one double-page plate is numbered
1864-1865) in 1934 and to be bound in 28 volumes. Kops was a Dutch agronomist
and professor of botany at Utrecht. The first 10 volumes constitute all that was
prepared and issued under his supervision (later assisted by Herman Christiaan
van Hall, Friedrich Anton Wilhelm Miquel and Johannes Everhardus van der
Trappen). Volume 11 was edited by Pieter Marie Eduard Gevers Deynoot, volume 12
by Frederik Anthony Hartsen, volume 13-30 by Frederik Willem van Eeden, later
assisted by Laurens Vuyck who was also responsible for volume 21-27. From
1930-1940 Willem Jan Lütjeharms was the editor for volume 28, in which he
concludes that this work has ended now and that publication took longer than any
comparable foreign flora: "De Flora Batava heeft langer geleefd dan een der met
dit werk vergelijkbare buitenlandsche plaatwerken." The long publication period
reflects the change in the technique of its illustrations. Initially
copper-engravings were used, followed by lithographs, all coloured by hand, but
from volume 25 was started with colour-printing, besides hand-colouring and
volume 27 and 28 were colour-printed as a whole. Also several artists were
involved, but the plates are not signed nor much information is given about
them. Most plates in the first 3 volumes were illustrated by Georg Jacob Johann
van Os. He was born in 1782 in The Hague and settled in Paris in 1826, where he
worked for the Sèvres porcelain factory and was a painter of flower and fruit
pieces, still lifes, etc. These early, finely engraved plates are exquisitely
coloured by hand. The 80 plates of volume 8 are by Cornelis Johannes van
Hulstijn. A.J. Kouwels illustrated volume 13-18 and from 1890 mrs. H.C. van de
Pavord Smits illustrated the remaining volumes. Publication was started by J.C.
Sepp en Zoon, renowned for its scientific colour-plate books. After Jan
Christiaan’s death the firm gradually fell into decline and when the firm was
discontinued in 1868, publication of the Flora batava was subsequently in
the hands of the firms of De Breuk & Smits, Leiden, (Vincent) Loosjes, Haarlem
in 1898 and Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague in 1911. Each plate is accompanied by
mostly one text-leaf in Dutch and French. The work was issued in 8vo and 4to
format which is also given in the list of 232 subscribers in the first volume.* Pritzel 4822; Jackson p. 324; Nissen BBI 2247; Great flower books p. 63; Landwehr 60; Stafleu & Cowan 3874; Johnston 663; A hundred highlights from the Koninklijke Bibliotheek 70. www.meemelink.com | floras |