Beschreibung:

BATEMAN, James (1811-1897). The Orchidaceae of Mexico and Guatemala . London: J. Ridgway & Sons for the author, [1837]-1843. Large 2° (728 x 525mm). 1p. subscriber's list, addenda & corrigenda slip bound with index to the plates. Lithographic pictorial title, 40 FINE HAND-COLOURED LITHOGRAPHIC PLATES, one uncoloured plan of 'epiphyte-houses' and 38 wood-engraved vignettes. (Title heavily spotted, lighter spotting affecting dedication and index to plates, light spotting to plates mainly confined to versoes and associated text leaves, the last three plates heavily spotted, last text leaf, blank and rear free endpaper creased vertically.) Contemporary calf, gilt edges (worn, extremities heavily rubbed, front cover detached). Provenance : Josiah Spode (ink presentation inscription on front free endpaper dated June 12th 1855 to:) -- Hugh Henshall Williamson -- Weetman Dickinson Pearson, 1st Viscount Cowdray (armorial bookplate).
BATEMAN, James (1811-1897). The Orchidaceae of Mexico and Guatemala . London: J. Ridgway & Sons for the author, [1837]-1843. Large 2° (728 x 525mm). 1p. subscriber's list, addenda & corrigenda slip bound with index to the plates. Lithographic pictorial title, 40 FINE HAND-COLOURED LITHOGRAPHIC PLATES, one uncoloured plan of 'epiphyte-houses' and 38 wood-engraved vignettes. (Title heavily spotted, lighter spotting affecting dedication and index to plates, light spotting to plates mainly confined to versoes and associated text leaves, the last three plates heavily spotted, last text leaf, blank and rear free endpaper creased vertically.) Contemporary calf, gilt edges (worn, extremities heavily rubbed, front cover detached). Provenance : Josiah Spode (ink presentation inscription on front free endpaper dated June 12th 1855 to:) -- Hugh Henshall Williamson -- Weetman Dickinson Pearson, 1st Viscount Cowdray (armorial bookplate). ONE OF THE RAREST, AND 'PERHAPS THE MOST RENOWNED AND SOUGHT-AFTER OF ALL ORCHID BOOKS (W. STEARN JOHN LINDLEY P.133). 'IN THIS BOOK, THE GREAT ORCHIDS OF CENTRAL AMERICA LIVE FOR US IN ALL THEIR GLORY' (BLUNT). The work is 'probably the finest, and certainly the largest, botanical book ever produced with lithographic plates... In size and in splendour, Bateman's giant folio eclipses the works of all who went before or came after him' (W. Blunt The Art of Botanical Illustration , 1994, pp.249-251). Weetman Pearson (1856-1927) took over the family firm, S. Pearson & Son, Ltd., in 1880. At that time the company was heavily involved in construction, and he oversaw its global expansion, building docks and railways around the world. In 1889, Porfirio Diaz, president of Mexico, invited him to Mexico to build an Atlantic-Pacific railway. During its construction, one of the world's largest oil fields, the Potrero del Llano, was discovered, and Pearson created the Mexican Eagle Petroleum Company, one of Mexico's largest firms. It is therefore most appropriate that Viscount Cowdray should have had this book in his library. LIMITED TO 125 COPIES ONLY. Great Flower Books p.73; Nissen BBI 89; Stafleu & Cowan 342.