Joseph Antoine Risso and Pierre Antoine Poiteau | Histoire naturelle des orangers. Paris, 1818–[1820]

Joseph Antoine Risso and Pierre Antoine Poiteau.

Histoire naturelle des orangers. Paris: Imprimerie de Mme. Hérrisant le Doux, 1818–[1820]

FIRST EDITION, 4to (346 x 254mm.), half-title, 2pp. dedication to the Duchesse de Berry, 109 fine stipple-engraved plates printed in colours and finished by hand after Poiteau by Mme. V. Bonnefoi, Chailly, Dien, Gabriel, Legrand, T. Susémihl and Texier Dein, contemporary quarter calf, spine gilt, upper hinge broken

A BEAUTIFUL WORK ON CITRUS FRUIT.

The text covers every aspect of the subject: its history and mythology, its taxonomy and cultivar descriptions of sweet oranges, bitter oranges, bergamot oranges, limes, grapefruit, lumies, lemons, citrons and related genera. The author, Antoine Risso, a French apothecary and botanist, lived and worked in Nice in the south of France.

Antoine Poiteau, the illustrator, began his career as an apprentice gardener at the Jardin des Plantes, and spent some time in the Caribbean collecting plants before returning to Paris in 1800 and turning to botanical illustration, with an initial style modelled on Van Spaendonck and Redouté. Apart from the illustrations, he provided much information on citrus varieties native to the Tropics.

First published in 19 parts between July 1818 and August 1820, a second edition would be published in 1872, though the present first edition is much preferred.

LITERATURE: An Oak Spring Pomona 76; Nissen BBI 1640; Great Flower Books (1990) p.133; Dunthorne 263; Stafleu TL2 9248