JAUME SAINT-HILAIRE (Jean-Henri). Plants of France described - Lot 10

JAUME SAINT-HILAIRE (Jean-Henri). Plants of France described and painted after nature. À Paris, chez l'auteur, 1819-1822-[1824]. 10 volumes, large, in-4, fawn half-calf, spine boards decorated with geometric and plant motifs in gilt and black (period binding). Includes one volume. Plants of France: I: x-xxviii-(94) pp. - II: (110) pp. - III: (126) pp. - IV: (138) pp. - V: (120) pp. - VI: (108) pp. - VII: (126) pp. - VIII: (138) pp. - IX: (136) pp. - X: (134)-15-(one blank) pp. including list of subscribers and table of French plant names. - Spines of volumes a little worn; occasional heavy foxing, especially in the last volume. The binder has made a few alterations to the alphabetical order or to the association of plates with their printed notices. In addition, the "melitis des bois" on plate no. 415 corresponds to the "melitis à feuilles de mélisse" described in the printed notice (vol. VII); plates nos. 751, 752, 753, correspond to the incorrectly numbered printed legends nos. 752, 753, 754 (vol. IX); the "hundred-leaf rose" plate (no. 401), here misplaced, has a printed notice with plates no. 402 and 403, but no caption; the "salicorne arbrisseau" on plate no. 952 corresponds to the "salicorne ligneuse" described in the printed notice (vol. X); plate no. 388 captioned "Véronique petit-chêne" is here misplaced and apparently has no printed notice (vol. X). Traité des arbres forestiers: (2 of which the second is blank)-iv-27-(one blank)-(94) pp.; binding rubbed with worn corners. MOST COMPLETE EDITION, LARGELY ORIGINAL. The first edition was published by the author in Paris from 1805 to 1809, in 4 volumes illustrated with 400 plates, some signed by Dubreuil or Véron. The present second edition has been enlarged by numerous issues, forming 6 volumes illustrated with 600 additional plates (Nissen, BBI, no. 989). IMPORTANT ILLUSTRATION OF 1012 BOTANICAL PLATES ENGRAVED ON COPPER IN COLOR out of text, sometimes with watercolor highlights. The order of placement does not follow that of numbering, as the new issues have not been added as a separate supplement, but inserted in their place in the general alphabetical arrangement respected in the original edition (Dunthorne, p. 211, "Small but exquisitely delicate plates of pure color printing"; Monglond, vol. VIII, col. 1337-1345, who does not give details for pl. 401 to 1000; Nissen, BBI, no. 989, who does not mention the portraits). With 10 out-of-text portrait-frontispices of famous botanists (including the author) lithographed out-of-text by Alexis Noël. NATURALIST AND PAINTER, JEAN-HENRI JAUME SAINT-HILAIRE (1772-1845) belonged to a wealthy Grasse family, and served for a time as an artilleryman during the Revolution, notably in Italy. He then devoted his life to botany: he studied under Daubenton, Desfontaine, Jussieu (whose system he adopted) and Lamarck, and also took drawing lessons from Lebreton and painting lessons from Gérard Van Spaendonck, professor of "natural iconography" at the Jardin des Plantes. Jaume Saint-Hilaire published, among other works, a guide to the garden's collections (1800), La Flore et la Pomone française (1828-1832) and agronomy brochures. With Les présentes Plantes de la France (begun in 1805 and finally completed in 1824), he produced his great work, from which he later drew two extracts published separately in 1825, a Traité des arbrisseaux et des arbustes and a Traité des arbres forestiers. ATTACHED: JAUME SAINT-HILAIRE (Jean-Henri). Traité des arbres forestiers, ou Histoire et description des arbres indigènes ou naturalisés, dont la tige a de trente à cent vingt pieds d'élévation, et sert aux constructions civiles et navales. À Paris, chez l'auteur, 1824. Large in-4, red half-calf with corners, spine with large nerfs decorated with gilt and cold geometric motifs (period binding). FIRST EDITION. Includes, as an introduction, an "Instruction sur le semis, la plantation et la culture des arbres" by botanist André Thouin, professor at the Jardin des Plantes (Nissen, BBI, no. 990). ILLUSTRATION OF 90 BOTANICAL PLATES ENGRAVED ON COPPER IN COLOR with occasional watercolor highlights. With an out-of-text lithographed portrait-frontispiece of the botanist Henri-Louis Duhamel Du Monceaux by André Noël.