DOWNING, A(ndrew), J(ackson). THE FRUITS AND FRUIT TREES OF AMERICA;
Or, The Culture, Propagation, And Management, In The Garden And Orchard,
Of Fruit Trees Generally; With Descriptions Of All The Finest Varieties Of
Fruit, Native And Foreign, Cultivated In This Country. New York: John
Wiley, 1850.
Downing was the most prominent
and respected American horticulturist of the nineteenth century and his FRUITS
AND FRUIT TREES OF AMERICA, first published in 1845, quickly became the
most authoritative American book on pomology. It went through several editions
and remained in print for most of the decade. Downing originally intended
the book to appear without plates, relying instead on black and white outline
illustrations, printed within the text, to convey the appearance of the
fruit. He also wanted to keep the cost of the book within reach of the typical
American farmer. The success of the book, however, induced him, two years
later, to also publish a very small number of special copies with added color
plates. These delicately hand-colored lithographs were printed in Paris
from drawings made in America by an anonymous artist. They are arguably
the finest set of color illustrations to appear in any American fruit book,
rivaled only by the even rarer plates of Hoffy's NORTH AMERICAN ORCHARDIST.
They first appeared in copies dated 1847 (sometimes with 70 plates). The
present copy is a stereotyped printing of the original 1845 edition with
a new title page. No mention of the color plates is included in the text,
and they do not appear in any later editions. Rare. Plesch Sale 219; Oak
Spring Pomona 60 (Plesch copy); Whitman Bennett pg. 35. 8vo (23.5 x 15 cm);
xiv + 594 pp. + 69 delicately hand-colored plates. Contemporary half morocco
with cloth boards and gilt panelled spine; front hinge split; recased with
inner hinges reinforced, but preserving original end sheets; scattered foxing
of text, but most plates are clear or only very mildly affected.
$4,500.00
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