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Asteraceae - Pulicaria dysenterica
- Inula dysenterica From: Flora batava by Jan Kops and others. Amsterdam, J.C. Sepp, 1807, volume 2 (plate 149). Hand-coloured engraving (sheet 225 x 278 mm). Slightly darkened. Text enclosed. € 125
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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