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Convallariaceae - Polygonatum officinale - Convallaria polygonatum From: English botany; or, coloured figures of British plants by James Edward Smith. London, C.E. Sowerby, 1836, 2. edition, volume 3 (plate 494). Hand-coloured engraving by James Sowerby (sheet 128 x 218 mm). Slight foxing. Text enclosed in photocopy. € 30
One of the most celebrated of all British
floras is Sowerby’s English botany. This periodical publication, issued
in 267 numbers, and published in thirty-six volumes between 1790 and 1814,
contains 2,592 beautifully coloured illustrations of plants most of which are
drawn and engraved by James Sowerby. The plates are accompanied by descriptive
letterpress written by the eminent botanist James Edward Smith, … (Henrey II p.
141). The plates of the second or small edition of 12 volumes are mostly
restrikes of the plates of the first edition, arranged in sytematic order and
including supplementary plates. Most of the plates thus bear a double
enumeration and are often not so fully coloured as those of the first edition.
James Sowerby was the first of several members of this family who became noted
as authors and illustrators of books on natural history.* Nissen BBI 2225; Great flower books p. 76; Henrey 1369; Stafleu & Cowan 12.221.
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