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THE NATIVE FLOWERS AND FERNS OF THE UNITED STATES. Thomas Meehan & Louis Prang ILLUSTRATED BY CHROMOLITHOGRAPHS Boston: 1879-81 Four Volumes 192 Chromolithograph Plates |
PLEASE CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE
I
have been auctioning botanical prints taken from the Meehan-Prang books on eBay
from time to time. Those chromolithographs were taken from books with broken
bindings and loose pages. The set, which I am offering at this time, is too
handsome to break apart for the prints. Each of the 192 exquisite
chromolithographs is on heavy paper without any text on the back. These stunning
full paged Botanicals measures 7 ¼" x 10". All are free of foxing and
spotting so often found. An apparent error during the original binding process
duplicated pages 165-180 and plates 41-44 in Series II Volume I. Unfortunately
the duplication replaced pages 21-36. Therefore, lacking plate #s 5-8.The
overall size of each book is 8" x 10 ½". The marbled edged pages are
tightly held, and the chromolithograph prints are clean and bright. A most
attractive rare four-volume set with five raised bands along the spine.
Contemporary three quarter gilt calf and marbled boards. Armorial bookplate in
each volume.
Thomas Meehan was an Englishman, trained at Kew, who moved
to Germantown Pennsylvania in 1853, where he spent the rest of his life running
a nursery and editing various periodicals. He was the Editor of The
Gardener’s Monthly.Together with well known artist-printer Louis Prang,
they published The Native Flowers and Ferns of the United States in
1878.This is Meehan’s masterwork, and one of the leading authorities on ferns
in America. It is also a notable 19th century American color plate book, issued
by Louis Prang of Boston, the leading chromolithographer of the period.TAXONOMIC
LITERATURE 5783. McGRATH, pp145-46. BENNRTT, p.75.
"Mr. Prang was the first to apply…the designation of ‘chromos’ to
this type of colored lithograph (Oxford English Dictionary, quoting Printing
Times, London Jan 15, 1875). In 1876 he established a model printing
establishment in Roxbury, where, in addition to reproducing his
"chromos," he employed the printing craft as a subsidiary to art in
various other ways. He devised appropriately decorated Christmas cards which he
first sold in England and then in 1875 put on the American market. DICTIONARY OF
AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY p.165.
ITEM # NFF-4VOL
PRICE $1,550.00
EACH OF THE 192 PRINTS ARE AVAILABLE ON CD
PLEASE CLICK ON LINKS BELOW TO VIEW CD AND INDEX OF BOTANICALS DEPICTED