Fleurs, fruits et feuillages choisis de la flore et de la pomone de l’ile de Java.
Hoola van Nooten, Berthe.
Faubourg de Louvain, ( 1866), Brussels
Large folio. (6) pp. plus 40 chromolithograph plates with text descriptions by van Nooten.
Price: $12500
Widowed at an early age on Java, Berthe Hoola van Nooten undertook this project as a means of supporting herself and her family. “Van Nooten was clearly more than competent… She managed to accentuate the splendour of each species by adopting a style that combined great precision and clarity with a touch of neo-Baroque exuberance, revelling in the rich forms and colours of the tropics. The excellent reproduction of the artist’s drawings in the form of chromolithographs lends an added tactility to these striking images” (An Oak Spring Flora 87). Text in English and French. This is the second edition, the first having been published three years earlier. A third edition was published in 1880 See Nissen, Botanische Buchillustration 931. Bound in original blind stamped and gilt boards, rebacked in complementary fabric. Corners bumped. Scattered light foxing; water stain at lower edge of some pages, not affecting text or images. Short tear on outer edge of last plate, not affecting image. A very good copy.