These extraordinary handcolored
copperplate engravings come from one
of the great masterpieces of 18th Century
Botanical Illustration, the Plantae Selectae
(Selected Plants) written by Jakob Trew
and illustrated by Georg Dionysius Ehret.
The book had 100 plates of some of the worlds
most beautiful plants.
These exceptional illustrations were the result of the collaboration
of three great 18th Century talents. The Nuremberg Doctor and publisher
Christoph Jakob Trew (1695-1769) had a fascination with botany, and developed
an admiration for the work of Georg Dionysius Ehret (1708-1770), a brilliant
watercolorist from Heidelberg. The two became close friends and worked on a
number of projects together. For Plantae Selectae, they hired one of the greatest
engravers of the time, Johann Jakob Haid, a native of Augsburg. Haid
also hand colored the sheets, working directly from the watercolor models prepared
by Ehret.
The titles on these plates are all heightened in gold.
The hand coloring is exquisite. All are in very good to excellent condition
(See specific notes on the related pages).
Condition: Paper and image in very good condition.
However this plate is a bit if a mystery to
us. It is the same size as the other plates,
but appears to be cut along the right edge (not
full plate mark) Some light spotting. The high
light generated by the scan makes the spotting
and discoloration look slightly more prounounced
in these images than it does to the naked eye.
