THE BOTANIC GARDEN - Maund, 1st 1842 (Vol XI) - COLORED FLORAL BOTANICAL PLATES

THE BOTANIC GARDEN; CONSISTING OF HIGHLY FINISHED REPRESENTATIONS OF HARDY ORNAMENTAL FLOWERING PLANTS, CULTIVATED IN GREAT BRITAIN; WITH THE NAMES, CLASSES, ORDERS, HISTORY, QUALITIES, CULTURE, AND PHYSIOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS [VOLUME XI].

Book Details + Condition: Baldwin and Cradock (London). First Edition, 1842. Volume XI only - please see our other listings for accompanying first edition volumes that are for sale. Hardcover with dark green leather boards, with gilt ruling to front and rear; raised bands to spine; marbled endpapers. Approximately 225 pages, with 48 pp to the ACTUARIUM and 25 pp to THE FRUITIST (see below). Illustrated with 24 hand-colored engraved flowering plants, with descriptions and attributes ascribed for each plant. Four different plants per plate; and each remains protected with the original tissue guards. Includes extra engraved title page. Also included in this volume is the ACTUARIUM - a miscellany of practical advice and information on botany, and THE FRUITIST - a compendium of the qualities of various fruits, also with illustrations of each fruit.

In 1825-26, Benjamin Maund produced an illustrated periodical that described flowering plants to provide scientific instruction to the British gardener, known as “The Botanic Garden”. The Botanic Garden was later named The Botanical Garden, running from 1825-1852, and containing a total of 13 volumes. Please see below for more information on Benjamin Maund.

A very scarce, first edition copy in solid and clean condition, with light wear to leather (mainly scuffing and rubbing, with a bit of discoloration to rear); rubbed corners and edges; minor foxing and toning present (mainly to front and rear); inked name to ffep; text and plates are clean and free of markings.

"Benjamin Maund (1790–1863) was a British pharmacist, botanist, printer, bookseller, fellow of the Linnean Society (1827) and publisher of the Botanic Garden and The Botanist. He served on the committee of the Worcestershire Natural History Society where he started a monthly botanical publication. Starting in 1825, Maund produced The Botanic Garden from his press at Bromsgrove in Worcestershire. The 13 volumes of this periodical depicted with great delicacy ornamental flowering plants cultivated in the Royal Gardens and was dedicated to the young Queen Victoria. Eminent botanical artists such as Augusta Innes Withers, Edwin D. Smith, Mrs. Edward Bury and Maund's own daughter contributed to the work." [Wikipedia]