Nederlandsch bloemwerk. Door een Gezelschap geleerden. Amsterdam: J.B. Elwe, 1794. 4° (282 x 212mm). 2-page subscribers list. Engraved title with large hand-colored floral vignette by H.L. Myling after P.T. van Brussel and 53 hand-coloured engraved plates. (Occasional very light browning.) Contemporary half calf, gilt spine with green morocco gilt lettering piece, uncut (extremities lightly rubbed, corners worn, headcap splitting at joints).

Nederlandsch bloemwerk. Door een Gezelschap geleerden. Amsterdam: J.B. Elwe, 1794. 4° (282 x 212mm). 2-page subscribers list. Engraved title with large hand-colored floral vignette by H.L. Myling after P.T. van Brussel and 53 hand-coloured engraved plates. (Occasional very light browning.) Contemporary half calf, gilt spine with green morocco gilt lettering piece, uncut (extremities lightly rubbed, corners worn, headcap splitting at joints).

FIRST EDITION OF THIS IMPORTANT AND BEAUTIFUL WORK, ILLUSTRATED WITH 'DELIGHTFUL TULIPS, HYACINTHS AND AURICULAS' (Blunt). 'A SYMBOL AND REPRESENTATION OF THE ASCENDANCY OF DUTCH NURSERYMAN... AT THE END OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY' (Hunt). The breeding and distribution of tulips, hyacinths and auriculas was the most lucrative area of horticulture during much of the eighteenth century, and by the closing decades the Dutch were the acknowledged leaders in this field. Arnold Arboretum, pp.512-513; Blunt & Stearn The Art of Botanical Illustration (1994) p.190; Dunthorne 215; Hunt 733; Landwehr 29; Nissen BBI 2219.