(Tulips)(ARDENE, Jean Paul de Rome d').   TRAITÉ DES TULIPES,   Qui Non-Seulement réunit tout ce qu'on avoit précédement écrit de raisonable, mais est augmenté de quantité de remarques nouvelles sur l'éducation de cette belle fleur.       Avignon: Louis Chambeau,   1760.          First edition. Ardène, a retired priest and a botanist from Provence, was the most respected French authority on garden flowers of his day. In addition to this book on tulips he published other popular books on ranunculi, pinks and hyacinths. In all of them he combined sound practical experience with profound knowledge of the writings of those who preceded him. His TULIPS begins with a lengthy bibliography of the writers cited within the work, including informed commentary on the merits (or defaults) of most of them. (Here we discover that the anonymous TRAITÉ DE LA CULTURE DES RENONCULES, DES OEILLETS, DES AURICULES, & DES TULIPES published in Paris in 1754, frequently attributed to Ardène, is instead a flagrant piracy of several authors.) The bibliography is followed by a useful glossary which explains much of the arcane terminology used by the florists of his day. Lengthy discussion is given to the standards for judging the desirability of various tulips and their use in the garden in addition to the expected cultural notes. "d'Ardène's book marked the end of French dominance in the tulip world. By the time France had emerged on the far side of its revolution, the Dutch had taken over the show" (Anna Pavord, THE TULIP, pg. 101).   12mo (15.3 x 8.3 cm); viii + 252 + (4) pp. + 2 folding engraved plates.   Cleveland 451; Musset-Pathay 1952; Hunt 587 (1765 edition).          Old full sheep with recent leather spine label; small nick at head of spine; minor scuffing and worming of rear hinge; text clean and tight. $650.00

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