VAN GEEL, Pierre Corneille (1796-1836)

"First edition, first issue. Stafleu and Cowan speculate that Van Geel was certainly the editor and possibly the author of the Sertum, though it is possible that Pierre Auguste Joseph Drapiez may have been responsible for the text. The prospectus bound in at the end of the present lot states that the work will be issued in 100 livraisons of 6 plates each, totaling 600 lithographic plates. The present copy totals 598 plates, although one is uncoloured, and there is confusion on the exact number of plates that constitute a complete copy: Stafleu and Cowan's count is ambiguous as to whether the 600 should include the plain plate; Great Flower Books calls for one uncoloured and 600 plates, while Nissen calls for 594, and the Plesch copy only had 592 plates. The illustrations are life-size or near life-size representations of the flower and its foliage, paired with some details of the structure of the plant or its seeds and flowers. The work was reissued as Flora des serres et jardins de Paris, Paris, 1834. Cleveland Collections 950; Dunthorne 121; Great Flower Books (1990) p.161; Nissen BBI 2386; Stafleu and Cowan 15.904"