Lot 87: BIVORT, Alexandre Joseph (1809-1872). Album de Pomologie. Brusse

BIVORT, Alexandre Joseph (1809-1872). Album de Pomologie . Brussels: Librairie de Deprez-Parent, 1847-1851.

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 lucious 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: American plums and peaches both 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. The first volume of this set apparently had its lithographs removed at an early date, c.1855-6, with an aim to replace the images with original watercolors—of which only four were executed. 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.

Four volumes, oblong folio (232 x 300mm). 2 lithographic additional titles by V. de Doncker; 143 hand-colored lithographs (of 192, lacking the prints in the first volume), a few only partially colored as usual; the first volume has had the prints replaced with sheets of cardstock, on four of which watercolor copies of the original plates are painted; an additional watercolor of pears with a pencil drawing on the reverse is laid in, along with a lithograph of Van Mons (spotting, largely to text leaves and especially to vol. 1 title page). Contemporary brown half morocco over brown cloth (vol. 1) and green cloth (vols. 2-4) with morocco title pieces on front board (vol. 1 hinge cracked, generally worn at joints and corners, boards a little scuffed).
, A. Bivort, 1847-51,