Lot 7: BAUER, Ferdinand (1760-1826). Illustrationes florae Novae Hollandiae, sive icones generum quae in Prodromo florae Novae Hollandiae et insulae van Diemen descripsit Robertus Brown. London: apud auctorem, [1806-] 1813.

3 parts in one volume, 2 o (479 x 330 mm). 15 engraved plates including 2 plates printed in greenish-blue and 2 plates printed in 2 or 3 colors. (Dampstained and wrinkled, 7 plates with bluish discoloration to inner margin, small ink stamp to each plate.) Later half leather and marbled boards (worn). Provenance : Massachusetts Horticultural Society (bookplate; stamps). FIRST EDITION. EXTREMELY RARE. "In 1801 Bauer went as natural history artist on the coastal survey of New Holland carried out under the command of Captain Flinders in H.M.S. Investigator. Robert Brown was the naturalist on this expedition, and both he and Bauer went on the recommendation and at the expense of Sir Joseph Banks. In 1803, after the Investigator was condemned as unseaworthy Captain Flinders decided to return to England to obtain another ship to complete the expedition. Bauer and Brown, however, continued their travels in Australia, and finally returned to England in 1805 with several thousands of botanical specimens and many hundreds of sketches of plants. In 18[06] Bauer began to publish his Illustrationes florae Novae Hollandiae, a work which did not meet with sufficient encouragement to be continued after the third number" (Henrey II, p. 195). Ferdinand Bauer's elder brother, Franz Andreas, later explained that the project was abandoned due to Ferdinand's inability to find competent engravers and colorists to complete it; forcing Ferdinand's return to his native Austria. According to Stafleu & Cowan, fewer than fifty copies were published. An unpublished sixteenth plate is in the BM (NH) collection of proofs of the work. Dunthorne 27; Ferguson 549 (noting 5 copies; 2 colored); Great Flower Books, p. 49; Henrey II, p. 195; Nissen BBI 96; Pritzel 493; Stafleu & Cowan TL2 362.