1849 Superb Large Deitrich Flora Universalis Folio, TULIPS, Liliaceae Pl. CCCCLXXVI EXTREMELY RARE
$ 389.00
Rare 1849 Hand-Colored Folio Copperplate Engraving from:
FLORA UNIVERSALIS
in
IN COLORIERTEN ABBILDUNGEN
Ein Kupferwerk zu den Schriften Linne's, Willdenow's, De Condolle's, Sprengel's, Römer, Schultes's
Tulipa
Liliacae CCCCLXXVI
T. maleolens Bertolon, T. scabriscapa Strange.
An original antique, hand-colored botanical engraving is perhaps one of the very best & most beautiful I've seen from the entire Deitrich's Flora Universalis, which contained literally thousands of these hand-colored folio engravings of flowers & plants.
The coloring is particularly brilliant, with apparently no fading of the translucent watercolors, which evoke the brilliance & translucency of the Tulip's petals.
This is the original of this image one only finds as reproductions, giclees & such. I happen to have this scarce original antique copy in my collection.
This is a true find. If you're looking for an original antique copy to make giclees from, or just to frame & stare at in awe on your wall, here's a very rare chance to acquire one.
It's extremely rare, I find none of this plate listed anywhere, except as reproductions.
The Volumes:
Flora Universalis in colorierten Abbildungen (Flora Universalis in colored illustrations) was published by David Nathan Friedrich Dietrich from 1830–1860. A total of 476 volumes of this monumental work were published, each with 10 plates. The magnificently colored plates usually show several plant illustrations on one sheet. Due to the extremely long publication period and the enormous size, complete copies are virtually impossible to find. Even larger fragments are extremely rare.
This enormous work was produced using hand-drawn copperplate engravings to accompany the various texts by noted botanists of the day, such as Linnaeus, Willdenow, De Candolle, Sprengel, Hooker, Lindley and others. The work included approximately 4,760 hand-colored illustrations.
The Author:
Dietrich was born in 1799 in Ziegenhain (a municipality in the district of Altenkirchen in central Germany) and then followed the family tradition and devoted his life to botany. After receiving his doctorate, he became the curator of the Jena University herbarium. During his lifetime he wrote various treatises on German fora, mosses, fungi and grasses and several encyclopedias on botany.
Condition:
Appears to be in excellent condition for a 180-year-old engraving. The hand-coloring appears to remain sharp & brilliant as the day it was painted. Very little age-toning for a print this old. An exceptionally clean print on creamy, thick, wove paper. Please peruse the detailed photos.
These prints are very old & may have minor imperfections expected with age, such as some typical age-toning of the paper, oxidation of the old original watercolors, spots, text-offsetting, artifacts from having been bound into a book, etc. Please examine the photos & details carefully.
Text Page(s): This one comes without original text page. I've added a scan of a sample cover page from one of the volumes to the listing photos for reference, it's not part of the listing.
About these Gorgeous Flowers:
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Tulipa maleolens, now called Tulipa agenensis is a species of flowering plant in the family Liliaceae.
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It is native to Turkey, Iran, Cyprus, the Aegean Islands, Syria, Lebanon, Israel and Palestine, Jordan, and naturalized in the central and western Mediterranean (Italy, Tunisia, France, Portugal, Moldova etc.)
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In Italy, it was commonly known as the 'Red Tulip of Bologne'. 'Agenensis', refers to the French town of Agen, where a wild colony of the tulips were found.
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T. agenensis was originally described and published by Pierre-Joseph Redouté in his painted series 'Les Liliacées' Vol.1 in February 1804.
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'Tulipa scabriscapa Strangw.' is now known as Tulipa gesneriana, the Didier's tulip or garden tulip, is a species of plant in the lily family, cultivated as an ornamental in many countries because of its large, showy flowers. This hybrid is widely believed to have originated in Tian Shan of China, from the collections of the sultan of the Ottoman Empire in Istanbul, as is the case with other species of tulips that came into Europe.
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Tulipa gesneriana was introduced to western Europe from Constantinople in 1554. It was first described in 1559 by Conrad Gesner.