Lot 356
356
BIVORT, A.J. Album de Pomologie. Brussels, Librairie de Deprez-Parent, 1847-1851. 4 vols. W. 3 (repeating) handcold. lithogr. titles & 191 (of which 1 double-p.) beautiful handcold. lithogr. plates. Cont. green hcf. extra w. raised bands, dec. gilt backs, green cf. lozenge-shaped ti.-labels on front sides. (Corners a bit bumped/worn, some minor unobtrusive foxing, paper sl. yellowed).
First edition of Bivort’s magnum opus, "a wonderful record of the great number of new fruits" (Bunyard). Published in monthly parts over four years, Album de Pomologie contains descriptions and luscious illustrations of many of the cultivars of the important Belgian agronomist Jean-Baptiste Van Mons, whose seed collection was acquired by Bivort after his death. Van Mons was the most prolific pear breeder of his age, and this obsession is borne out in Bivort’s album, of which about three-quarters is devoted to pears. The remainder consists of varieties of apples, cherries, stone fruits, grapes, and berries. Van Mons’s new fruits were imported to America, which responded in kind with their own contributions: Both American plums and peaches make appearances in the album. This spirit of international exchange is witnessed by a piece of blank stationary laid into this set from the World’s Agricultural Society, established in 1893 in order to promote correspondence and facilitate exchange of plants and information between the countries of the world, and headed by the Belgian-American Prosper J. Berckmans. Not many complete copies seem to have survived (Oak Spring Pomona). - Oak Spring Pomona 53; Bunyard, A Guide to the Literature of Pomology, p. 441; De Belder 27 (only 1-3). Not in Nissen, BBI, Dunthorne, Staffleu-Cowan & Pritzel.€ 8000
result € 13000
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