JACQUEMART, A(lbert).   FLORE DES DAMES.   Botanique A L'Usage Des Dames Et Des Jeunes Personnes,    Paris: P.J. Loss; B. Neuhaus,   1840.          First edition. Handsomely illustrated with twelve hand-colored plates drawn by August Dumenil. This work is the first of a FLORE DES DAMES series which evolved from letters between Jacquemart and a female friend who was bored by her removal for the season from Paris to the countryside. Coming to her assistance, Jacquemart seeks to add the knowledge of botany to her litany of perfections and thus end her ennui. What follows is a series of conversational "promenades" in which the lessons of botany are taught. Poetry is quoted (much from DeLille) and observations are made about flower painters. The series also included a volume on the language of flowers published in 1841, and apparently stopped there.   12mo (15.5 x 10 cm); 335 + (5) pp. + 12 hand-colored + 2 uncolored engraved plates.            Contemporary quarter red morocco with decorative gilt panels, pebbled paper over boards, lightly rubbed at extremities; white moire endpapers, somewhat soiled; a.e.g.; scattered light to moderate foxing to text and plates. $225.00

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