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Asteraceae - Senecio palustris - Cineraria palustris From: Flora batava by Jan Kops and others. Amsterdam, J.C. Sepp, 1807, volume 2 (plate 119). Hand-coloured engraving (sheet 225 x 278 mm). Text enclosed. € 210
The Flora batava, a monumental work forming a
beautifully illustrated survey of all indigenous plants in the Netherlands. It
was started in 1800 by Jan Kops, a Dutch agronomist and professor of botany at
Utrecht. The first 10 volumes constitute all that was prepared and issued under
his supervision. When finished at last in 1934, 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 colour-printing was
gradually introduced. 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. Each plate is
accompanied by a text in Dutch and French. The first publisher, J.C. Sepp en
Zoon, was renowned for its scientific colour-plate books. The work was issued in
8vo and 4to. This plate is in the most desirable 4to format.* Pritzel 4822; Jackson p. 324; Nissen BBI 2247; Great flower books p. 63; Landwehr 60; Stafleu & Cowan 3874; Sam Segal: Flowers and nature pp. 250-251 (Georgius Jacobus Johannes van Os); Johnston 663; A hundred highlights from the Koninklijke Bibliotheek 70.
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