Plants: United States and Mexican Boundary

Three-Quarter Leather. Collectible; Very Good. Beautiful collection of botanical engravings, circa 1880s. 47 detailed renderings of plant life at the US-Mexican border. Handsomely rebound in 3/4 leather over bevelled boards. 5 raised bands, gilt-bordered and gilt-decorated compartments along the spine. Quarto, lavish marbled endpapers, all edges bright gilt. 37 of the plates profile plant life of the "Cactacaea" genus and are magnificently illustrated by P. Roetter and W.H. Dougal. The other 10 comprise miscellaneous genera and illustrators. With no printing or copyright information to go by, it's difficult to know exactly what we have here but it is possible that these were the best plates from an early Government Printing Office (GPO) publication collected and then rebound into this one volume. The net result, regardless, is very impressive indeed.