Lot 274: LINCOLN, Edwin Hale (1848-1938). Wild Flowers of New England Photographed from Nature . Pittsfield, Massachusetts, 1910 [vols. 1-6] -1914 [vols. 7 and 8].

LINCOLN, Edwin Hale (1848-1938). Wild Flowers of New England Photographed from Nature. Pittsfield, Massachusetts, 1910 [vols. 1-6] -1914 [vols. 7 and 8].

16 parts in 8 volumes, 2υo (382 x 342 mm). Letterpress titles, indices of Latin names. 400 black-and-white platinum print photographs, each tipped at top to a sheet of fine paper with letterpress number and description in lower left. Original green-grey half morocco [vols. 7-8 slightly varying], cloth boards, front covers titled in gilt, by The Oakwood Binders, Pittsfield, Mass., with their ticket in vols. 7 and 8, uncut (spines faded, some light rubbing). Provenance: Berkshire Garden Center, Stockbridge, Massachusetts (bookplates).

AN EXCEEDINGLY RARE COMPLETE SET OF EDWIN HALE LINCOLN'S BOTANICAL MASTERPIECE

Lincoln began work on this series in 1904 and continued updating it until 1914. He printed and assembled the individual parts himself, producing a special set for each subscriber. Some were issued with loose plates, which he called the "Library Edition" and others were bound into volumes. "The number of volumes per set varied from subscriber to subscriber, depending on how many volumes Lincoln had completed by that time" (William F. Robinson, A Certain Slant of Light: The First Hundred Years of New England Photography). A full set, by 1914, consisted of 400 plates, as here. Robinson estimates that only 50 copies of Wild Flowers were produced. But only four copies are currently located, including the present and the copy sold at Skinner noted below, are currently located, the others being at the New York Public Library and the Lenox Massachusetts Library.

Lincoln used an 8 x 10 format camera to record these images, and composed many of them in his studio after meticulously selecting the flowers from the field. The large negatives did not require enlargement: all of the photographs appear to be contact prints. To convey the subtleties of his subjects, Lincoln insisted on platinum paper.

The parts comprise: Part I: Flowers of Early Spring; Part II: Honeysuckle, Dogwood and Saxifrage Families; Part III: Rose Family; Part IV: Rose and Heath Families; Part V: Lily, Iris, Violet and Convolvulus Families; Part VI: Aquatic Plants, Pink, Crowfoot and Madder Families; Part VII: Orchid Family; Part VIII: Mint and Figwort Family; Part IX: Flowers of Mid-summer; Part X: Pulse, Parsley, Milkweed and Composite Families; Part XI: Composite Family; Part XII: Flowers and Fruits of Autumn; Parts XIII-XIV: Supplementary Series; Parts XV-XVI: Supplementary Series. On the verso of the title of volume 1 is the statement "Revised Edition, Copyright 1911."

VERY RARE: according to American Book Prices Current only one other complete set has been sold at auction in the last thirty years: Skinner's, 19 November 2006, lot 172. (8)

PROPERTY FROM THE BERKSHIRE BOTANICAL GARDEN

PROPERTY FROM THE BERKSHIRE BOTANICAL GARDEN