The Orchid Album, comprising Coloured Figures and Descriptions of New, Rare and Beautiful Orchidaceous Plants.

WARNER, Robert; WILLIAMS, Benjamin Samuel; MOORE, Thomas; FITCH, John Nugent.

Published by LondonPublished by B. S. Williams at the Victoria and Paradise Nurseries -1897., 1882

About this Item

FIRST EDITION. 11 vols. Large 4to. (30 x 24 cm). Beautifully bound in contemporary full dark green straight-grained morocco by Charles E. Lauriat of Boston, the sides framed in gilt and blind foliate borders, spines with raised bands and gilt-decorated compartments, titles and dates lettered in gilt directly to spines, inner dentelles gilt, marbled endpapers, red silk ribbon page-markers to each volume, all edges gilt. 528 lithographic plates by and after John Nugent Fitch on 527 sheets, partly hand-colored, partly color-printed. A few minor repairs, mostly to extremities of spines, contents completely clean, overall an magnificent, complete set in particularly handsome bindings. Benjaminm Samuel William's obituary, appearing in volume 9, recollects the intentions of this magnificent work: "In 1881 he commenced his magnum opus, the Orchid Album, which was projected with the idea of supplying a demand for illustrations of Orchidaceous plants, with botanical descriptions of the plants figured, and notes on their cultivation . Its appearance was hailed with great satisfaction in horticultural circles throughout the world, and it numbers among its subscribers nearly all lovers of Orchids and many of our leading and most influential horticulturalists." The illustrator, John Nugent Fitch (1840-1927), was the nephew of the equally-prolific botanical artist Walter Hood Fitsch. His original drawings for The Orchid Album are in the Natural History Museum, South Kensington. Nissen BBI, 2107; Great Flower Books, p. 149.

Seller Inventory # 61561

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Orchid Album, comprising Coloured Figures and Descriptions of New, Rare and Beautiful Orchidaceous Plants.
• Publisher: LondonPublished by B. S. Williams at the Victoria and Paradise Nurseries -1897.
• Publication Date: 1882
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Seller catalogs:
  • NATURAL HISTORY
  • BINDINGS & SETS