Yokohama: The Yokohama Nursery Co., Ltd., n.d., ca. 1890-1900. . A tall and beautifully preserved color lithographed horticultural catalogue from the Yokohama Nursery Company, justly famous for the attractiveness of its publications. " The Yokohama Nursey Company catalogues from the mid-1890s through the mid-1920s are impressive documents, written in English and beautifully illustrated with colored plates, line drawings, and photographs of classic Japanese plants." (ARNOLDIA 64/2-3, Del Tredici. "From Temple To Terrace"p. 4) There are 25 varieties of iris illustrated with two varieties per page 12 large plates and one large specimen alone on one plate, all of them shown in full flower with some foliage. The flower colours include shades of white, blue, pink and purple with touches of yellow printed against a pale green background. Varieties include: Zama-no-mori; Yedo-jiman and Kumo-no-obi; Wase-banri and Kyodaisan; Shokko-nishiki and Toru-odori; Koki-no-iro and Sano-watashi;Chosei-den and Aoigata; Nishiki-no-shitone and Bondai-no-nami; Hana-aoi and Uji-no-sato; Okubonri and TaiKeirobu; Hatsushimo and Gosetsu-no-mai; Shirataki and Kuma-funjin; Datedogu and Sofu-no-koi; Kurokumo and Idznmigawa. The only trace of previous ownership is an occasional small pencilled "x" next to the printed name of a variety. Folio (17.5 x 29 cm); 13 color lithographed plates, 17.5 x 29 cm, printed on rectos only.

London: Groombridge And Sons, n.d. (ca 1851). Maund was a pharmacist, botanist and bookseller who was most noted as the publisher of several botanical periodicals with colored plates, the most famous of which, THE BOTANIC GARDEN, began in 1825. The FRUITIST appeared as a sequel to that series, although the format of its illustrations differed from the earlier flower plates by presenting a single subject per page instead of four. These delicately hand-colored wood engravings depict a variety of fruits placed above their printed descriptions and framed within an elaborate printed border. Included are 34 apples, 24 pears, 6 plums, 3 gooseberries and 7 other fruits. In the present volume the fruits have been grouped by type, with varieties placed in alphabetical order, rather than in the random order in which they were originally received by subscribers. 4to (21 x 17.5 cm); (iv) + engraved title + 72 leaves each with a hand-colored wood engraving of a specimen of fruit.

Paris: L. Curmer; V. Lecou 1851. The first color illustrated edition of this classic garden meditation by the French novelist, journalist and floriculturist, Alphonse Karr. The text is composed as a series of letters to a friend whose departure for exotic travel has created in the narrator the urge to demonstrate that truly exotic traveling can be accomplished entirely within the carefully observed world of his garden. Thus we are introduced to keen observations of insect and flower life, to flower lore, themes of metamorphosis, much discussion of the major flowers (such as the rose and tulip), color in the garden and nature, the succession of flowers with the seasons, etc. "Les saisons qui se renouvellent sont les climats qui voyagent et qui me viennent trouver. Vos longs voyages ne sont que des visites fatigantes que vous allez rendre au saisons..." There are many departures into memory and historical association, but all is based upon the life drama of the world underfoot in the garden. It is, in a way, a work of romantic ecology, scientifically informed, but directed by the beauty and passion of the observed garden. The wood engraved text illustrations and decorations are by noted artists of the period: MM. Freeman, L. Marvy, Steinheil, Meissonier, Gavarni, Daubigny and Catenacci. In this first edition with full page color plates there are also eight flowers depicted: rose, campanula, dipladenie noble, gardenia, fuchsia, azalea, camellia and lapagerie. The text, without the color plates, first appeared in 1845. Carteret III-325. Large 8vo (27 x 18 cm); half title and title page + 416 pp. with numerous wood-engraved text illustrations + 8 color plates with printed tissue guards.