Facsimile and English translation of L'Héritier de Brutelle's nomenclaturally important work of 1788, illustrated by Redouté and James Sowerby. The plants described were introduced into Europe from collections gathered throughout the world during 18th-century voyages of exploration. Introductory chapters include a foreword by George H. M. Lawrence, "L'Héritier de Brutele: The man and his work" by F. A. Stafleu, "The plants of Sertum Anglicum" by J. S. L. Gilmour, C. J. King, and L. H. J. Williams, and "The illustrators of Sertum Anglicum" by Wildrid Blunt.
More than 970 rare books, dating from 1479 to 1830 and covering such categories as gardening, herbals, botanical books and landscape architecture are catalogued in this bibliography.
This is the latest volume in a major series that describes selections of the rare books, manuscripts, and other works of art held at Oak Spring Garden Library, a collection formed by Rachel Lambert Mellon. The 111 items chosen for this volume on floral illustration since the later Middle Ages include Books of Hours, still-life and vanitas paintings, botanical prints, and books of instruction of every kind, from planting a garden to making flowers using colored papers or wax. Lucia Tongiorgi Tomasi groups the works into chapters on such topics as florilegia, women artists, tulipomania, Dutch and Flemish painting, and exotic flowers from distant lands, providing an introduction to each chapter that gives the contextual background necessary for a real understanding and appreciation of floral illustration past and present. The sheer beauty as well as extraordinary skills encountered, for example, in manuscript florilegia by Jacob Marrel and Maria Sibylla Merian, in hand-colored books by Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues and G.B. Ferrari, and in flower studies painted by John Constable, Margaret Mee, and others, are testament to the high status accorded floral illustration over the centuries. This handsome, richly illustrated volume will attract all those with an interest in rare books and the history of art as well as horticulturalists, botanists, and garden historians.
A monthly book announcement and review journal. Considered to be the first periodical in England to offer reviews. In each issue the longer reviews are in the front section followed by short reviews of lesser works. It featured the novelist and poet Oliver Goldsmith as an early contributor. Griffiths himself, and likely his wife Isabella Griffiths, contributed review articles to the periodical. Later contributors included Dr. Charles Burney, John Cleland, Theophilus Cibber, James Grainger, Anna Letitia Barbauld, Elizabeth Moody, and Tobias Smollet.
