LINDEN, Jean Jules - LEMAIRE, Charles - VERSCHAFFELT, Ambroise et al. L'illustration horticole journal special des serres et des jardins...
Gand, F et E. Gyselnyck, 1854-1888
A rare and splendid collection of l'Illustration Horticole. The illustrations are of great value, particularly the engravings depicting exotic plants and flowers in vivid colors, including camellias, orchids, and begonias.
Jean Jules Linden was an eminent horticulturist and publisher, with a particular interest in orchids. At just 19 years old, he was selected for a government-funded botanical expedition to South and Central America, where he traveled until 1844, collecting new orchid species. From 1845, he worked as a plant dealer in Luxembourg and Ghent, where he imported and introduced new plants, including over 1,100 orchid species. In addition to orchids, Linden is credited with popularizing begonias, camellias, and palms in Europe, introducing several species.
L'Illustration Horticole was founded in 1854 by Ambroise Verschaffelt, a Belgian nurseryman, and was directed for the first 16 years by Charles Lemaire, an eminent botanist. In 1869, Jean Jules Linden purchased Verschaffelt's nursery and took over the publication.
The magazine covered pictures, descriptions, history and cultivation of the "most notable plants," new introductions, horticultural history, botanical expeditions, and reports of major exhibitions and new works on botany and horticulture, as well as garden descriptions and plans.
Nissen BBI 2343.
35 volumes. 33 in 4to, 255 x 165 mm. The last two volumes are in folio. Quarter leather and cardboard bindings, with gilt titles on the spine. Numerous illustrations in the text, approximately 1.272 plates and lithographed illustrations, almost all chromolithographs or hand-colored, some double-page, with protective tissue paper. ‘Van den Borre’ bookplate glued to the pastedown. One plate has a heavy lack, some defects, a good copy.