Lot 26: REDOUTE, PIERRE JOSEPH. 1759-1840. & CLAUDE ANTOINE THORY. 1759-1827.

Les Roses. Paris & St. Petersburg: P. Dufart & J.F. Hauer, 1835. 3 volumes. Illustrated with 2 portraits and 184 hand-finished color engraved plates. 8vo (232 x 147 mm). Later 3/4 rose-colored levant over cloth boards, spines in six compartments with gilt and onlay roses in four, the other two gilt lettered, t.e.g., by Hatchards. All half-titles present, foxing predominantly to preliminary leaves, but some scattered faint spots throughout, rear hinge of first volume cracked before last text leaf, spines toned, first volume head of spine rubbed, lightly soiled.

Third octavo edition and the most complete printed in his lifetime. Redoute is considered among the greatest flower painters and his work is not only scientifically valid, but it also celebrates the beauty of the subject. He was known as the "Raphael of flowers." Ray, French, 89A; Sitwell, Great Flower Books, p 128.
Provenance: Henry W. Poor; Helen Janssen Wetzel (bookplates).
See illustration.