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DUKE, J. (publisher)
The Compleat Florist
London: printed for J. Duke and sold by J. Robinson, 1747. Octavo (8 7/8 x 5 1/4 inches). Engraved throughout. Hand-coloured emblematic frontispiece by John Carwitham, title with elaborate hand-coloured floral border, 100 hand-coloured numbered plates with integral text. Expertly rebacked to style using 18th-century russia, with contemporary marbled paper-covered boards, spines divided into seven compartments with raised bands, red morocco lettering piece. Provenance: Isaac Royall (early inscription dated 16 January 1754).
An excellent copy of the de luxe hand-coloured issue of the first edition, second issue of this beautiful and valuable work
Today, the word florist describes a profession: one who sells flowers, normally cut flowers and normally from retail premises. In the 18th-century the word "florist" had a more general meaning. Samuel Johnson, in 1757, defined a florist as a "cultivater [sic.] of flowers" in both a professional and amateur capacity. This work was aimed at both groups of flower growers, and was intended as an indicator of what was available, fashionable, and the "coming-thing", whilst also providing the necessary growing instructions. The work was first published in two parts in 1740, and re-issued in the present format in 1747. Each plate features a single variety. The first six plates include the names of the nurserymen/florists who grew the individual bloom: Messrs. Kingman, Giles (2), Sampson, Bowen and Fairchild. All of the plates include a note of when the variety flowers, and they all also include integral engraved text that either gives cultivation instructions, or refers back to a previous plate that features another variety of the same plant.
The work is not only beautifully engraved and printed, but also offers an important snap-shot of the varieties that were available to gardeners during the middle of the 18th century - an important time in the history of gardening when systematic classification was taking hold, but before the explosion of plants that were bought into cultivation from the late 18th century onwards. A surprising number of different species are shown, but there are multiple varieties of a number of species, including: 5 tulips; 5 anemone; 6 lillies; 8 carnations or pinks; 7 roses; 4 irises and 3 auriculas. A contemporary reference records that the work was available at 5s. uncoloured, or, as here, 15s. coloured.
Dunthorne 102; cf. The Gardening World (22 March 1890) 6, p.456; Henrey III, 568; Nissen BBI 554; cf. R. Weston Tracts on Practical Agriculture and Gardening ... Second edition (1773) 68.
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#19641 $15,000.00 
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© 2002-2005 Donald A. Heald
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