Rare 1816 Turpin Hand-Colored Engraving, Dictionnaire Sciences, OSMUNDA regalis

Description: Rare 1816 Hand-Colored Copperplate Stipple-Engraving from: DICTIONNAIREDESSCIENCES NATURELLESPlanches BOTANIQUE OSMUNDA regalis.(Royal Fern) Scarce original antique, hand-colored botanical engraving from the Botanique section of Pierre Jean Francis Turpin’s epic Dictionnaire des Sciences Naturelles. Appears to be from the French version.These are gems. 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 one is quite glorious, 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 His classification was based on an extended unpublished work by his uncle, the botanist Bernard de Jussieu.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. Minor age-toning as is typical 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 & an atlas volume to the listing photos for reference, it's not part of the listing. About this gorgeous plant:Osmunda regalis, or royal fern, is a species of deciduous fern, native to Europe, Africa and Asia, growing in woodland bogs and on the banks of streams. The species is sometimes known as flowering fern due to the appearance of its fertile fronds.The name Osmunda possibly derives from Osmunder, a Saxon name for the god Thor. The name "royal fern" derives from its being one of the largest and most imposing European ferns. Osmunda regalis is widely cultivated in temperate regions. The species and the cultivar 'Cristata' have both gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.According to Slavic mythology, the sporangia, called "Perun's flowers", have assorted magical powers, such as giving their holders the ability to defeat demons, fulfill wishes, unlock secrets, and understand the language of trees. However, collecting the sporangia is a difficult and frightening process. In earlier traditions, they must be collected on Kupala Night; later, after the arrival of Christianity, the date is changed to Easter eve. Either way, the person wanting to collect Perun's flowers must stand within a circle drawn around the plant and withstand the taunting or threats of demons.The young shoots of the fern are, along with the similar shoots of many other fern species, known in some places as fiddleheads, and eaten as food, thought to have an asparagus-like taste. Size: 7-3/4" x 4-3/4" 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: 2024-12-08T00:34:02.000Z

Shipping Cost: 11 USD