Herbier colorié de l'Amerique, representant les Plantes les Plus Rares et les Plus Curieuses qui se trouvent dans cette Nouvelle Partie du Monde

Paris: Chez l'Auteur, 1783. 2 volumes, folio. (17 3/4 x 10 7/8 inches). 3 engraved titles, 2 pp. letterpress list of plates numbered 1-200. 206 hand-colored engraved plates, numbered in manuscript in the upper margin just within the platemark at a contemporary date. Contemporary full red morocco, covers bordered in gilt, spines with raised bands in seven compartments, lettered in the second and third, the others with repeat floral and foliate decorative motifs in gilt, marbled endpapers, gilt edges

A rare and beautiful work of American botany: this set with more plates than any other recorded example and in a lovely contemporary red morocco binding.

Pierre Joseph Buc'hoz (1731-1807) was born in Metz and appointed physician in ordinary to Stanislaus, King of Poland, but his driving interest was natural history. Over the course of his career he published over 300 volumes, in addition to a great number of papers and dissertations. Among his accomplishments were the identification of many new plants which Louis XV ordered to be cultivated in the Jardin du Trianon. Among the works by Buc'hoz are several rare illustrated monographs, like the present, which make use of plates from his other works. This copy contains more plates - 206 - than any other example recorded in bibliographies, OCLC, or auction records. The largest number of plates among the ten copies in OCLC is 101 (and only the 1911 Bradley Bibliography compiled by Alfred Rehder of the Arnold Arboretum at Harvard mentions the plate list that appears in the present volume). This list notes that the first 84 engravings were taken from another Buc'hoz work, Les Dons Merveilleux dans le Règne Végétal [1779-83], and plates 85-200 were drawn from his Le Jardin d'Eden (1783); these origins account for the roman numerals engraved on the plates, which do not match the numbers assigned in the plate list and handwritten on the plates. The 6 extra plates not noted on the printed index suggest his intention to continue the work.

Dunthorne 68 (cites Mass. Horticultural Society copy only and calls for 100 plates). Nissen BBI 285. Rehder, The Bradley Bibliography, 1:328 (calling for 200 plates). Stafleau & Cowan TL2 879. Not in Cleveland, Hunt, or Sabin.