MORREN, Charles (editor).   ANNALES DEL LA SOCIÉTÉ ROYALE D'AGRICULTURE ET DE BOTANIQUE DE GAND,   Et Des Sciences Accessoires,       Ghent: Au Local De La Société, 1845-   1849.          A complete run of this important Belgian botanical journal beautifully illustrated with 292 hand-colored lithographs, chiefly of flowering plants. The editor of the ANNALES, Charles F. A. Morren, was a noted Belgian botanist and horticulturist. He held the chair in botany at the University of Liège beginning in 1835 and was later made director of the botanical gardens there. During this period Ghent was an important center for commercial horticulture, especially for flowering and exotic plants, and the Société Royale d'Agriculture et Botanique was instrumental in the development of that industry there. It took pride in having organized the first annual flower shows in Belgium, and the publication of its annals was a similarly ambitious project undertaken to advance the state of horticulture in Belgium and enhance its reputation throughout the world. The articles it printed covered all aspects of botany, but its primary focus was on commercial floriculture in general, and new varieties of flowering plants in particular. Nearly all the plants chosen for illustration are recently introduced varieties of popular garden flowers, or unusual exotics. Orchids and camellias, for example, are frequently depicted. All the plates are attractively drawn and carefully hand colored. The primary artists are A. Lagarde and G. Severeyns, although Morren himself also drew many of the plates and a few other artists also contributed.   Five volumes, 4to (26.4 x 17 cm); engraved title + (iv) + iv + 511 pp. + 47 color and 5 black and white plates, engraved title + (iv) + 518 pp. + 57 color plates and 1 portrait, (iv) + 490 pp. + 65 color plates (2 folding) and 1 portrait, (iv) + 487 pp. + 62 color plates (3 folding) + 1 folding black & white plate, + (iv) + 484 pp. + 60 color plates (3 folding) + 2 garden plans.   Nissen 2212; Great Flower Books pg. 159.          Contemporary green half-morocco with pebbled boards; spines somewhat faded and mottled; minimal foxing; but generally a fine, clean set. $3,500.00

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