Hordern House

COGNIAUX, C.A. and A. GOOSSENS Dictionnaire Iconographique des Orchidées... Brussels, 1896- 1907

Oblong small quarto, with altogether more than 800 fine colour plates; loose as issued in the 15 original dark brown cloth folders, lettered in gilt, with ribbon ties; also accompanied by a cloth-bound folder of supplemental material; a fine set.

A nearly complete set of what may well be in practice the rarest of all orchid books: only two hundred and fifty copies were published, and very few have survived intact. Nineteenth-century Belgium was one of the principal centres for the cultivation and appreciation of orchids. Goossens, who produced the splendid chromolithograph plates in these volumes, had already established his reputation as one of the most famous of Belgian orchid painters with his work Iconographie des Orchidees.

This set also includes a folder of some of the supplemental material by A Cogniaux, the co-author of the project, released in serial form from 1897 to 1907.
Balis & Lawalrée, 'L'Orchidée en Belgique', 40; Nissen, ZBI, Supp. 2236n.

$A25000

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