VINCENT, Henriette-Antoinette (1786-1830). Studies of Fruit and Flowers, Painted from Nature.London: G. Sidney for R. Ackermann; Printed in colours by B. M’Queen, 1814. [BOUND WITH:] The Elements of Flower and Fruit Painting.London: G. Sidney for R. Ackermann, 1814.

Rare first English edition, containing “among the most exquisite of all flower prints in their beauty and delicacy of execution”(Dunthorne). With an emblematic frontispiece by and after Busby of three putti drawing flowers that is unrecorded in standard bibliographies. The main work is an excellent example of English color printing is one of the very few early works where the printer is known. The first work, Studies,is based on Vincent’s Études des fleurs et de fruits(Paris, c.1810). Vincent was a pupil of Gerard van Spaendonck, the great flower painter of the Jardin des Plantes, and later with Redouté, and she exhibited in the Paris Salon 1814–1824. The plates and the text of the English edition seem to have been available in a number of different forms and under two different titles. The discrepancies in the plate numbers for Studies of Fruit and Flowers given by Dunthorne, Nissen, and Great Flower Bookslead to the conclusion that they are all correct and that there is therefore no definitive collation. All the images are the reverse of the French edition as the prints for the English edition were re-engraved using the prints of the original Paris edition as a guide. The uncolored shading of the plates is printed in outline only, before the addition of the stippled shading so the plates are not simply uncolored impressions. An incomplete copy of Vincent’s other 1814 work on botanical drawing, The Elements of Flower and Fruit Painting, is bound in at the end of this volume. Dunthorne 320 & 321; Nissen BBI 2067 & 2068; Great Flower Books, pp.147-48.

Quarto (340 x 286mm). Title, hand-colored stipple-engraved frontispiece of three putti drawing flowers by and after T.L. Busby, and 44 plates by Busby after Vincent printed by M'Queen with accompanying text, i.e., 22 subjects in two states each: stipple-engraving printed in colors and finished by hand and uncolored stippled outline. Elements of Flower and Fruit Painting: Title, four plates after by Busby after Vincent with accompanying text, i.e. two subjects only (of 23), “Jessamine” and “Strawberries,” each presented in three states: stipple-engraving printed in colors and finished by hand, partially colored state, and uncolored stippled outline. Occasional light spotting and soiling; short closed marginal tear on uncolored state of “Anemome” plate; marginal dampstain on colored state of “Bengal Rose”. Later 19th century half calf over marbled boards, green morocco label (covers lightly worn). Provenance:Charles Francis Baker, Tellisford, Somerset, England (inscription on front pastedown dated 9 Sept. 1840).