Author: Hoffmansegg, Johann Centurius & Johann Heinrich Friedrich Link.
Title: Flore portugaise ou description de toutes les plantes qui croissant naturellement en Portugal.
Description: Berlin, Charles Fr. Amerlang, 1809-1840. 457,436 pp. text & 94 (incl. 85 col. ) copper-engraveded plates (2 instruction-plates, numbered B & C, included). Text & plates (unbound) together with 16, nicely decorated, lithographed covers in four modern cloth boxes. Large folio.J.C.Hoffmannsegg, head of the botanical garden in Berlin, and H.F.Link, made around 1800 a trip to Portugal. It resulted in the description and drawing of 150 wild plants. A selection of 114 plantes was made to be included in the Flore Portugaise. The plan was to publish the work in 28 issues with 114 engraved plates. Hoffmansegg died in 1809 and the work was discontinued. Sources say that part of the text sheets were destroyed in this period. Finally, the work was continued in 1840 by Verlag Amelang. The publication of the plates, printed in colour and finished by hand, was continued with the help of the Prussian governement. It is unknown if all the 114 plates were published. Most of the plates were drawn by J.C.Hoffmansegg, but also by the porcelain-painter G.W.Völcker. The plates were engraved by the Haas brothers, FW.Bollinger, August Clar & J.F.Krethow. The lithographed covers belong to the incunabula of lithography. Not in Winkler; Nissen 90I - Great flower Books 59; Catalogue de Belder 155; Pritzel 4161; Nissen I, 202. -- This copy, with 94 plates, is the most complete copy for sale. -- The most complete copy we could trace, containing 111 plates, was sold by Christie's in June 1997 (lot 155). The working copy of Hoffmansegg with the 150 original designs was destroyed by an air raid which hit the library of the Botanical Garden in Berlin.The plates are all in fine condition. Some text-pages are a bit spotted. The following plates are missing: nos 20, 24, 26, 38, 65, 68, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 80, 81, 83, 84, 98, 99, 100, 101and 107. - - There is a plate 90 A & B and 108 A & B.- Plates 28-30-66-103-104-105 & 106 uncolored.

Keywords: Botany Coloured plates books Botanie Coloured plates books