JACQUIN, Nikolaus Joseph (1727-1817, Baron von) - photo 1
JACQUIN, Nikolaus Joseph (1727-1817, Baron von) - photo 2
JACQUIN, Nikolaus Joseph (1727-1817, Baron von) - photo 3
JACQUIN, Nikolaus Joseph (1727-1817, Baron von) - photo 4
JACQUIN, Nikolaus Joseph (1727-1817, Baron von) - photo 5
JACQUIN, Nikolaus Joseph (1727-1817, Baron von) - photo 6

JACQUIN, Nikolaus Joseph (1727-1817, Baron von)

Sold
£ 113 400
Auction dateClassic
13.12.2023 11:00UTC +01:00
Auctioneer
CHRISTIE'S
Event location
United Kingdom, London
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ID 1105651
Lot 116 | JACQUIN, Nikolaus Joseph (1727-1817, Baron von)
JACQUIN, Nikolaus Joseph (1727-1817, Baron von)

Selectarum Stirpium Americanarum Historia in qua ad Linnaeanum systema determinatae descriptaeque sistuntur plantae illae quas in insulis Martinica, Iamaica, Domingo, allisque et in vicinae continentis parte, observavit rariores; adjectis iconibus ad autoris archetypa pictis. [Vienna: 1780-1781].

A fine copy of the deluxe issue of Jacquin’s great botanical survey of the West Indies, one of at most 18 copies with the engraved plates replaced with original watercolours and with a unique title-page in watercolour and gouache probably by Franz Bauer. Jacquin issued this second edition of his 1763 original in a strictly limited number of deluxe copies. The text is expanded and the 184 engravings are replaced by 264 original watercolour drawings. He evidently felt that the engraved plates did not do his originals justice and prepared this as a more fitting memorial of his researches on Caribbean flora. ‘One of the most beautiful and intriguing botanical books of the eighteenth century… [and] indisputably one of the rarest’ (Mills, p.10).



Only 2 other copies of the deluxe issue are listed as ever having sold at auction in RBH (in 1993 and 1997), and few than a dozen are known in institutions. Stafleu and Cowan 3249; Dunthorne 152; Great Flower Books p.61; C. Mills, Plants of the Americas: the second edition of Nikolaus von Jacquin’s Selectarum Stirpium Americanarum Historia: commentary (London: Folio Society, 2016).



Large folio (465 x 315mm). Letterpress dedication, preface, text and index of plates, collation: A - Mm2 (pp.[1 - 7], 8 - 136 + [4]). Title an original drawing in pencil, pen, watercolour and gouache, and 264 original watercolour plates, 2 folding, captions in pencil. (Without the letterpress half-title, occasional very slight soiling, short tear in folding plates.) Contemporary diced russia gilt by Christian Kalthoeber with his orange label, sides with decorative border of quadruple fillets, Greek-key pattern roll, anthemion and scrolling foliage roll, square corner tool, a pineapple tool at the inner corners, spine with double raised bands, lettered in one compartment, the others tooled in gilt with various small tools, including roundels and some pointillé work, turn-ins with gilt Greek-key pattern roll, marbled and gilt edges (rebacked preserving original backstrip, slight scuffing on upper cover). Provenance: George Hibbert (1757-1837; sale Evans, 16 March to 25th May 1829, sold for £31:10:0 to:) – Payne and Foss (P. & F. Acquisitions, p.53) – Beriah Botfield (1807-63; sale Christie’s, 30 March 1994, lot 70).

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