Beschreibung:

BARTHOLOMEW, Valentine (1799-1879). Cover title: “A Selection of Flowers.” [London: Rodwell & Martin, August 1821-November 1822].
BARTHOLOMEW, Valentine (1799-1879). Cover title: “A Selection of Flowers.” [London: Rodwell & Martin, August 1821-November 1822]. Large 4° (356 x 256 mm). Without text (as issued). 36 fine hand-colored lithographic plates by Bartholomew, printed by Charles Hullmandel. (A few pale stains.) Modern half leather, upper cover with title in gilt. A FINE COPY OF A RARE WORK that, arguably, represents the first successful use of lithography in America in a botanical work. This copy includes the additional 12 plates rarely present and usually unrecorded by the bibliographies but present in the de Belder and Cleveland copies. The work was a collaborative effort between the 22-year-old Bartholomew and Charles Hullmandel (1789-1850), published with no text and without a title other than that on the original wrappers (here lacking). Ackermann had published A Series of Thirty Studies from Nature in 1812, but the present volume is the first published botanical work where the lithographer was able to surpass the work of contemporary engravers. Little is known of Bartholomew's life: he was born on 18 January 1799, and married Hullmandel's daughter in 1827. He was for many years the Flower Painter in Ordinary firstly to the Duchess of Kent and later to Queen Victoria. Cleveland Collections 849; cf. Dunthorne 22; cf. Great Flower Books p.48; cf. Nissen BBI 82.