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WALLICH, Nathaniel (1786-1854)
Plantae Asiaticae Rariores; or, descriptions and figures of a select number of unpublished East Indian plants
London, Paris & Strassburg: Richard Taylor for Treuttel & Würtz, Treuttel jun. & Richter, [1829-]1830-1832. 3 volumes bound from the 12 original parts, folio (21 1/2 x 14 1/2 inches). Half-titles to vols.I and III (as issued), 3pp. list of 160 names subscribing for 225 copies. 294 fine hand-coloured plates (comprising: 293 lithographs drawn on stone by Maxim Gauci [1 folding and numbered '222-223'] after Vishnupersaud [114], Gorachand [87], Charles M. Curtis [7], William Griffith [3], and others; 1 engraving by Weddell after Vishnupersaud [numbered '6']), 1 double-page engraved map of India by J. Arrowsmith, with routes of various botanists marked in colours by hand, vol.I extra-illustrated with two 4 pp. 4to prospectus and preliminary progressive subscribers' list bound in between the original wrappers to parts II and III, and a small format publisher's advertisement printed on coloured paper stock. Early 20th-century green half morocco gilt by William Brown of Edinburgh, spines in six compartments with raised bands, the bands flanked by gilt fillets, lettered in gilt in the second and third compartments, original parts paper wrappers preserved at the back of each volume, the original upper covers printed with lithographic titles on recto and with smaller format letterpress plate lists mounted on verso, top edge gilt (lacking the lower wrapper to part 11).
A very fine copy of this magnificent work, bound from the original parts and without any of the condition problems which can plague the plates. These plates include some of the finest images ever produced of the spectacular trees, shrubs and plants of India, Burma and Thailand.
A worthy successor to William Roxburgh, Wallich served as superintendent of the Calcutta botanical garden from 1817 to 1846. The present work was prepared for publication by Wallich during a leave of absence in 1828 - because of ill-health he had returned to England bringing with him a collection of about 8000 dried specimens as well 1200 original watercolour drawings executed from life. The majority of the specimens had been collected by Wallich himself during trips to Nepal, Western Hindostan, Ava and lower Burma - but he also benefited from the explorations of his contemporaries, and their names and the areas they explored are recorded on the map at the end of the third volume. In the production of the original drawings, Wallich employed the talents of many of the same artists that had worked for Roxburgh, the two most notable being Vishnupersaud (or Vishnu Prasad, who Blunt calls the 'most talented of the native Indian artists') and Gorachand (or Gorchand).
Wallich's Plantae Asiaticae was seen as an extension to Roxburgh's Plants of the Coromandel coast (London: 1795-1820) and was undertaken with the enthusiastic support of the East India Company who subscribed to 40 copies. It was published by subscription in 12 parts, priced at £ 2 10s per part, between September 1829 and August 1832. Wallich writes 'the present Work consists of a selection of plants made chiefly from a series of 1200 drawings, executed under my direction by Native Artists' (preface, p.x) The translation of the drawings onto stone was carried out by the Maltese born Maxim Gauci, perhaps the greatest of the early lithographers of botanical subjects. Wallich thanks him for his contribution in the 'Postscript', and unusually, he goes on to acknowledge the contribution of the colourist John Clark: 'For both of these worthy men and admirable artists I beg to express my sincere respect'. Two additional points that are rarely noted elsewhere are that plate number 6 is an engraving by Weddell (not a lithograph), and that the correct plate total is 294 not 295 as the folding plate is numbered '222/223'.
Arnold Arboretum p.729; Bradley Bibliography I, p.471; Dunthorne 326 (incorrect plate count); Great Flower Books (1990), p.149; Lack Garden Eden Masterpieces of Botanical Illustration 70; Nissen BBI 2099 (incorrect plate count); Stafleu & Cowan TL2 16.583.
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#19645 $120,000.00 
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© 2002-2005 Donald A. Heald
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