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DECAISNE, J. Le Jardin Fruitier du Muséum ou iconographie de toutes les espéces et variétés d'arbres fruitiers. Paris, Firmin Didot frères, (1858-)1862-1875. 9 vols. W. 508 engr./lithogr. plates with fruit subjects, for the greater part printed in color (497) and finished by hand. Loose as issued in fascicles (98). Fol. In 9 hcl. portfol. w. or. printed paper on spines & front sides. (Paper flaps of portfols. a bit dam., some plates sl. yellowed, some minor foxing in places, else a good and clean set).
First and only edition of this fine pomology: one of the greatest of all fruit books. De Belder 96: "One of the great fruit iconographies, with plates drawn by Alfred Riocreux, the 'most sensitive and skilful French botanical artist of the period' (Blunt). Decaisne, the author, was a Belgian botanist attached to the Natural History Museum at Paris, and he undertook to describe all the species and varieties of fruit in cultivation in their gardens." (De Belder). The work is presented in sections each covering a single species of fruit. The first (and largest) section is on the Pear, or what the author calls the "roi des fruits … pepins." This section, spread over the first six volumes, includes 357 plates. The remaining sections are, in vol. VII, Peaches (74 plates); in vol. VIII: Nectarines (13 plates); Plums (12 plates); Apricots (1 plate); and in vol. IX: Strawberries (40 plates, four of which are double-pp.) and Currants and Gooseberries (11 plates). The plates illustrate individual varieties with their fruit and portions of the foliage often in color, and each is accompanied by at least 2pp. of descriptive text. - Nissen BBI 456; Pritzel 2094; Stafleu & Cowan 1338; Great Flower Books 54.€ 3200
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