Lot 91: POITEAU, Pierre Antoine (1766-1854). Pomologie française; recueil des plus beaux fruits cultivés en France . Paris: Langlois and Leclercq, 1846.

POITEAU, Pierre Antoine (1766-1854). Pomologie française; recueil des plus beaux fruits cultivés en France. Paris: Langlois and Leclercq, 1846.

4 volumes, 2° (410 x 280mm). Half-titles with plate-lists on verso, 420 FINE STIPPLE-ENGRAVED PLATES PRINTED IN COLOUR AND FINISHED BY HAND after Poiteau and P.J.F. Turpin, and 3 uncoloured engravings. (Some marginal waterstaining at beginning of vol. III, occasional light spotting.) Contemporary green half morocco over marbled boards, gilt spines with lettering in elaborate cartouche, marbled endpapers (extremities lightly rubbed, vol. II with slight scuff mark to spine, joints of vol. III neatly repaired).

ONE OF THE MOST MAGNIFICENT OF FRUIT BOOKS. Sandra Raphael notes that "from 1807 to 1835 a new edition of Duhamel's Trait des Arbres frutiers, expanded by Poiteau and Turpin, was pubished in 72 parts with over 400 new plates. Ten years later, after Turpin's death, it was reprinted with a new title under the name of Poiteau alone." The latter had been responsible for the text, although Turpin was also a botanist, and both belonged to the group of flower and fruit artists associated with Redouté. The truly "magnifiques gravures" are devoted to peaches and plums (vol. I), cherries and strawberries (vol. II), gooseberries and pears (vol. III), and a luxurious array of apples (vol. IV). Oak Spring Pomona 31; Nissen BBI 551. (4)