Lot 188: HOOKER, Sir William Jackson (1785-1865).A Century of Orchidaceous Plants selected from Curtis's Botanical Magazine.London: Reeve & Benham, 1851.

HOOKER, Sir William Jackson (1785-1865). A Century of Orchidaceous Plants selected from Curtis's Botanical Magazine. London: Reeve & Benham, 1851. 4° (304 x244 mm). 100 hand-colored plates by and after Walter Fitch, 98 lithographed, 2 (nos.10 and 16) engraved. (Light spotting to a few plates, some light browning.) 19th-century half morocco gilt (rebacked in gilt-lettered morocco). Second edition. A fine copy of this selection of orchids.The descriptions are by Sir William Hooker, director of the Royal Gardens at Kew, with notes on the cultivation of orchids by John Charles Lyons (1792-1874). Fitch's plates demonstrate his facility with both lithographs and engravings. In the present copy the majority of the plates are lithographs, but plates 10 and 16 have plate marks and the full Curtis imprint. Stafleu & Cowan TL2 3015; Great Flower Books p. 60; Nissen BBI 918 (1846 edition).