Scarce 1816 TURPIN Dictionairre des Sciences Naturelles, Plate 489, AVOCADO

Description: Rare 1816 Hand-Colored Copperplate Stipple-Engraving from: DICTIONNAIREDESSCIENCES NATURELLESPlanches BOTANICA Tab. 489 LAURUS persea.(Avocado, now called Laurus persea) Scarce original antique, hand-colored botanical engravings from the Botanique section of Pierre Jean Francis Turpin’s epic Dictionnaire des Sciences Naturelles (Italian: Dizionario Delle Scienze Naturali, English: Dictionary of Natural Sciences). This one appears to be from the Italian version.The drawing, composition, detail work in the stipple-engraving, the brilliant coloring 'A La poupee' (colored in the plate) & hand-water-coloring are magnificent. It's also in superb condition with the colors as vibrant as they come, & the paper showing very little age or toning. This is a true find. The Artist:The French botanist and illustrator Pierre Jean François Turpin (1775 -1840) is considered one of the greatest floral and botanical illustrators of his time.In 1794 he was stationed in Haiti as a member of the French Army where he met botanist Pierre Antoine Poiteau (1766-1854).Turpin and Poiteau collaborated in a study of Haitian flora; they collected an herbarium of some 1,200 plants, of which Turpin made drawings of a large number, and of which they together described about 800 species.Through his collaboration with Poiteau and other naturalists, Turpin created some of the finest watercolors and illustrations of plants that are known to exist. As a botanical artist Turpin achieved a fame equal to that of Redouté. He collaborated on a number of the most important botanical publications of the early nineteenth century. The Author:Antoine Laurent de Jussieu, 1748 – 1836) was a French botanist, notable as the first to publish a natural classification of flowering plants; much of his system remains in use today. His classification was based on an extended unpublished work by his uncle, the botanist Bernard de Jussieu. The Volumes:The Dictionnaire des Sciences Naturelles was an epic, comprehensive illustrated work of Natural History, with 72 volumes ultimately published between 1816 and 1830, comprising 60 volumes of text, 11 of plates and 1 of tables.The text was written by the luminaries of science of the time, everyone from Cuvier to Lamarck. The Plates:Most of the illustrations in this work were engraved under the direction of Turpin, after paintings by Turpin & Jean-Gabriel Prêtre, a total of some 1191 plates in black and white with deluxe versions in hand-color (with versions of all the plate volumes published in entirely black & white apparently) Every part of these prints was made by hand: Hand drawn & engraved on Copper which was hand-mined, smelted & rolled, printed onto handmade cotton rag paper, inked & colored with hand-ground pigments individually by hand, & they were usually hand sewn into handmade leather-bound books. Condition:Appears to be in excellent condition for a 208-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, pristine print. 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 (French version) & an atlas volume to the listing photos for reference, it's not part of the listing. About this gorgeous plant:The title of this one is Laurus persea, & looks to me to be definitely a painting of the Avocado (now called Persea americana).The French version of this plate is titled Laurier Avocat, & the Linnean title shown is Laurus persea, which is closer to the proper name, and member of the laurel family (Lauraceae)The avocado, or commonly alligator pear or avocado pear (Persea americana) is an evergreen tree in the laurel.It is native to the Americas and was first domesticated in Mesoamerica more than 5,000 years ago. It was prized for its large and unusually oily fruit. The tree likely originated in the highlands bridging south-central Mexico and Guatemala.Persea americana is regarded as an evolutionary anachronism, having likely coevolved dispersal of its large seed by now-extinct megafauna in South America, notably giant ground sloths and the gomphothere genus of the elephant lineage.Size: 9-1/4" x 6-1/4" approximately.Shipping: Multiple prints combine into one USPS Flat-Rate envelope. If you'd like to combine & need more time to choose, please send a message & we'll do our best to oblige. If you're assessed multiple shipping for one combined package, we'll endeavor to refund any overage asap. Thanks for Visiting!

Price: 69 USD

Location: Great Barrington, Massachusetts

End Time: 2024-12-01T21:37:49.000Z

Shipping Cost: 11 USD