(France): ca. 1850s. An attractive and generally well preserved collection of 70 mounted botanical specimens collected in France during the mid-nineteenth century. Many, though not all, of the specimens are accompanied by hand-written descriptive labels, including a few with extended notes (in one case extending to several pages). Some specimens appear to have been collected in the region around Paris, while others (including a few tropical plants) appear to have been cultivated and collected in the herborist's own garden. They are, for the most part, reasonably preserved and attractively mounted., although because of their size, there is damage to some. Folios, 4 paper fascicles, approximately 45 x 32 cm., with a total of 70 mounted plant specimen sheets, folded in half to protect the specimens, with the mounted specimens on leaves measuring 45 x 30 cm.

Paris: Librairie Jean Naert, 1925. First edition; No. 1 of 6 copies printed on Japan paper at the press of Jacques et Demontrond in Besançon. With a signed ink presentation inscription to le comte (René Philipon ) on the free endpaper and a posted note from de Ganay to Philipon laid in. An essay in praise of the beauties of garden, landscape and architecture at Chantilly and the interventions there of great designers, gardeners and architects by France’s distinquished bibliographer of French garden literature. Ganay 1925/9 “Bibliographie Des Travaux D’Ernest De Ganay” in Mosser & Sartre, BIBLIOTHèQUE ET JARDIN. ERNEST De GANAY. In OCLC we locate only the British Library copy. “C’est que Chantilly réunit tous les agréments.” 8vo (23 x 14.6 cm) 32 + (iv) pp. with printer’s ornaments.

Paris: Auguste Ghio, n.d., ca. 1865. Illustrated with eight amusing and lovely two-toned lithographed plates of animated flowers. Six of the plates depict people transformed into flowers, with four examples on each plate. The other two plates depict scenes with an Enchanteur or Magician and human beings at the beginning and end of this fantastic tale. The story is loosely based on a variation of the German Faustus the Enchanteur legend, but it is the artistic treatment of the personified flowers that is of interest here. The flower bodies with human heads are similar to Grandville’s illustrations for LES FLEURS ANIMÉES of 1847, but here they are more defined as flowers. The artist’s signature on many of the plates is “Bertrand”; the printer is Becquet, Paris. The author was Rosine de La Salle Theodore Midy who wrote quite a number of works for children, including LA BOTANIQUE ILLUSTRÉE DE LA JEUNESSE and L’ALPHABET. The book is bound in printed floral paper covers with rusticated borders, signed L. Poguet. The covers also bear the name of the publisher Auguste Ghio, Palais-Royal. We find one copy with a different publisher (A. Courcier) at the Bibliothèque Nationale, Tolbiac; another copy is identified, but not located, in OCLC with a Library of Education publisher. Theodore Rosine de la Salle Midy was also published by Library of Education and A. Courcier - this is likely the same person. A very scarce Romantic floral fantasy. In the Style of Grandville 4to (30 x 22 cm.); 54 + (ii) pp. + 8 lithographed plates in two tints.

n.p: Bernard Lassus, 1975. One of 300 copies hand-printed by Kerversau imprimeur. LE JARDIN DE L’ANTERIEUR was Lassus's entry in a competition to design a garden for the new town of L'Isle d'Abeau. His plan won the competition but the project was never realised. LE JARDIN DE L'ANTERIEUR counts among Lassus's earliest published garden projects and both its text and its drawings demonstrate what the OXFORD COMPANION TO GARDENS (p. 205) calls his "approach to landscape which rejects empiricism in favour of exploring the non-measurable realm of the imagination." Stephen Bann says of his projects: "It seems to me beyond question that Lassus's highly inventive descriptions of garden projects function as utopian texts: Arcadia is conjured up, as it were, in the interstices of the design, and the charming line drawings that he provides are the exact graphic correlate to this state of potentiality." ("Arcadia as utopia in contemporary landscape design: the work of Bernard Lassus”, HISTORY OF HUMAN SCIENCES Vol. 16 No. 1 p. 117). Accompanying the Lassus text is an essay on the garden by Michel Conan. “garden projects..as utopian texts” Folio (55 x 36 cm); loose, as issued, in heavy paper folder; 16 unnumbered pages printed on papier d'Arches with 4 text illustrations + 3 plates from drawings (impressions measuring 21 x 28.5; 29 x 20; and 20.5 x 22.5 cm., respectively), 2 illustrating the garden and 1 showing its site.

N.P: Cymbalum Pataphysicum, 1985. Limited edition of 666 copies, this example #24 of 299 numbered copies bound in papier gris-ardoise. There are few vestiges left of Le Jardin des Surpises built in Attigny by the eccentric and multi-talented sculptor Renault. It was destroyed after the war and he rebuilt it some 300 meters away from the original site by re-cycling much of the sculpture. After his death, vandals destroyed most of what was left. This work is a catalogue of an “exhibition” devoted to the garden and Renault. Some biographical detail is provided and Renault’s work as an autodictact is mentioned in the context of “les inspirés,” such as le Facteur Cheval and Isidore or “Picassiette.” Given Renault’s work as a patissier  and cuisinier, an influence which showed in the sculptures of his gardens, connections with the work of Carême are also made. The photographic reproductions show the interiors of Renault’s Hotel des Deux Gares and of the Musée de la Guerre at Attigny. Photos of the garden include a view of the exterior of his second self-made house and a picture of Renault himself in the midst of his sculpture garden of animals, farm workers, etc. Shortly before his death he became a member of the Collège de Pataphysique, attaining the status of satrape shared by others such as Jean Dubuffet, Joan Miró, and Jacques Prévert. Uncommon.   A Pataphysicist’s Garden Bound printed typescript, 34 pp. printed on rectos only; 29.5 x 2lcm; 10 full page and 5 half page illustrations from photographs.

Bruxelles: 1849. First and apparently only edition. With an engraved frontispiece of a view taken from within the park looking towards the Palais de la Nation designed by Gilles-Barnabé Guimard who, together with Joachim Zinner, provided the overall plans for the park and Place Royal in the 18th century. The four “chants” of the poem evoke events and people in the region’s history through encounters with the park’s sculptures of classical and historical figures, its structures, etc. Of particular interest for Schoonen’s 28 pages of notes which provide detailed descriptions of the park, its plantings, layout, views and associated history. Scarce. In OCLC we locate only one copy at Utrecht and one at Vlaamse Erfgredbibliotheek. 8vo (17.2 x 12.5 cm); engraved frontispiece +92 pp with 2 tailpieces + 1 engraved plate.

Paris: chez Desenne, Janvier, 1792. The gardens at Betz were built by Marie-Catherine Brignolé, princess of Monaco, between 1780 and 1789. They formed an important parc à fabriques, created at least partly by a collaboration of Hubert Robert and the duc d'Harcourt. Cérutti visited the gardens in 1785 and composed this poem while there to recite as an entertainment for his host and fellow guests. It narrates a promenade through the park in the course of which each of its many picturesque fabriques and features is carefully described. It is easily the most detailed and complete contemporary account of this important jardin anglais, which was abandoned during the Revolution and later lost to neglect. Though not originally written for publication, the poem was eventually published shortly before the author's death together with the extensive footnotes on the gardens which more than double the text. The present copy is marked as "Seconde Édition," although its imprint gives a date of January 1792, the same date as the first. Ganay 538. 8vo (19.4 x 12.5 cm); 72 pp. including three pages listing Cerutti's other publications.

Paris: D.-A Longuet, (ca, 1913). This portfolio of plates reproducing early garden engravings was published at the time of the 300th anniversary of the birth of André Le Nôtre. Its purpose was to furnish models of the formal French garden for architects and gardeners, as well as amateurs and garden proprietors. As such, it is a valuable resource for any student of French gardens because its 393 reproduced engravings document important design elements in French gardens from the Middle Ages to the beginning of the landscape garden period. Of particular interest is the large selection of parterre designs. With a brief historical text, an index of the localities represented in the plates, a table of artists or engravers and, sometimes, locations of the plates, and with a bibliography of works on garden art in France. Ganay 388 Folio (39.5 x 29.5 cm); 24 pp. text + 104 plates of 393 photographic reproductions of engravings, documents and a few photographs.

PARIS: Mme, Vve. Louis Janet, n.d. (1852). First edition. Combining the talents of French childrens’ books author Louise Leneveux, born Marie-Louise Pignot (1797-18960), and the remarkable French artist, printer, and book illustrator, Amédée Varin (1818-1883), this charming publication brings the amusement and panache of anthropomorphic design to a sweet and modest book instructing children about insects. Varin is now much admired for his transformative interpretations of butterflies and vegetables in 19th century book illustration (see PAPILLONS METAMORPHOSES, 1852 and L’EMPIRE DE LÉGUMES, 1851). For our LES PETITS HABITANTS DES FLEURS, the colour illustration of the butterfly writing his memoires using an overturned rose blossom as a desk sets the character of the book. Here, Vavin’s amusing colour plates (for example ants building a shed and silkworms busy spinning) are engraved by Lejeune. The lithography is by Godard. Leneveux brought a similar spirit of transformed nature to her LES FLEURS PARLANTS (1845) and LES ANIMAUX PARLANTS (1845). Gumachian 373 ( in a different binding); Cotsen No. 27283, Cotsen Catalogue 3470. We have located 4 copies in the U.S.; 3 in France; 1 in the Netherlands; and 1 in the V&A through OCLC. A scarce little book. “Les insectes musiciens, les fourmis maconne....” 12mo (x) + 252 pp. + decorative frontispiece in colour + 11 full page additional colour plates, highlighted by hand colouring. Decorative printed initials and printers ornaments.

Paris: Université De Paris IV Sorbonne, n.d.. ( 1982). A most uncommon master’s thesis or “Memoire De Maitrise”, U.E.R. D’Historie de L’Art et D’Archéologie. The directeur de mémoire was M. le Professeur Bernard Dorival.Gilles Ragot went on to become an art historian, specialist in 20th century architecture, and author and/or co-author of several authoritative books on Le Corbusier. His 2 part, 3 volume thesis covers 21 villas designed by Le Corbusier in the region and includes a a plans of the situations of the villas in the Parisian and Boulogne su Seine regions and extensive analysis of architectural features. The work is heavily illustrated with reproductions of photographs and plans. Master’s Thesis on Le Corbusier et Pierre Jeanneret by a future authority. 3 volumes, 29.2 x 21 cm; 205 ff; with plans and photographs reproduced.l

Paris: Chez L'Auteur, 1800. First edition. Though not highly esteemed as a scientific botanist, Buc'hoz was an energetic naturalist and an indefatigable compiler of botanical fact who stands as one of the most prolific French writers on this subject during his day. The primary objectives in his most important works were comprehensiveness and utility. In the present volume he provides an annotated catalogue of all plants useful in ornamental gardening or for display in orangeries and greenhouses. Over a thousand different varieties are listed, nearly all of which are accompanied by commentary on their special qualities and use in gardens. The work is divided into two main parts: the first is a general listing of both domestic and exotic plants; the second confines itself to hardy plants native to the region around Paris. A final chapter is devoted specifically to plants useful in the creation of hedges and enclosures. 8vo (19.8 x 12 cm); 16 + 288 pp.

n.p: N.P, n.d. (ca. 1900?). A somewhat mysterious piece on art vellum having the appearance of a mailing or shipping label, but, surely being an elaborate mock-up for one or the other. “The design is signed in a monogram for “R H sc”. The sender’s address is “ Clos de la Garoupe/ Cap d’Antibes/ Alpes-Maritimes. “ in decorative black lettering. Opposite is the message:” Les Fleurs sont expédiées aussitôt qu’elles sont coupées.” Below this is an address space beginning with a decorative “M” and below, “Spécialité d’Anémones /et de la Fraises. This text is arranged in the upper diagonal space of the piece. In the lower diagonal is a splendid design of a young woman holding strawberries and surrounded by anemones. This illustration is enhanced in green, gray and rose. The Cap d’Antibes was a strong horticultural region in the 19th century. Clos de la Garoupe was once a farm ( or nursery?) before Antibes became the playground of the rich. Flowers from Cap d’Antibes. Impression 17 x 23.5 on sheet measuring 28 x 35 cm. With custom matting.

Paris: Chez Charles de Sercy, 1689. An early manual on carnations and pinks addressed specifically to the amateur jardinier fleuriste at a period when the carnation was particularly in vogue. The first hundred pages deal with various aspects of cultivation - in pots, in greenhouses, and in the ground - while the remainder is devoted to an extensive listing of varieties. These entries describe each variety carefully and are full of observations on their particular qualities and special requirements, opinions as to their value and beauty, and occasional reference to the novelty or age of a particular variety. This work has been erroneously attributed to Goube, who wrote an eighteenth century work with a similar title. Its true author is unknown. Musset-Pathay 1379. 8vo (15.2 x 9 cm); (iv) + 164 pp.

Paris: Chez Madame Huzard, 1830. The nurseryman Jean-Pierre Vibert was “le grand rosiériste de la première moitié du XIX siècle... Ces catalogues constituent une source précieuse pour la connaissance des anciennes ‘Roses de France’” (François Joyaux. LA ROSE DE FRANCE, pages 123 and 125). Jean- Pierre Vibert first published his OBSERVATIONS SUR LA NOMENCLATURE ET LE CLASSEMENT DES ROSES, including a catalogue of roses, in 1819. It went into at least eleven editions, but, the catalogue of roses published with it would be altered each year. In this copy roses added in 1830 are included; roses that did not sell well were also removed. The roses are identified by name, inventory number, type, price, color and nuance, and the date of first entrance” into commerce. “le grand rosiériste de la première moitié du XIX siècle” Stock 3059; Werger & Burton 1245. 8vo (19.1 x 14.7 cm); 56 pp.