1776 · Nuremberg
by Mayer, Jean.
4to. Nuremberg: Adam Wolfgang Winterschmidt, 1776. 4to, civ, 152 pp. With an allegorical engraved title page, a folding plate showing the gardens at Wurzbourg, 8 plates of apricots, 8 plates of almonds, and 17 plates of prunes, all beautifully hand-colored as issued. Old diaper calf, backstrip with two red lettering pieces, white library markings at foot of backstrip. Internally a beautiful copy. Ink signature "Will. Forsyth" on verso of t/p. § A fine association copy (see below) of vol. 1 only (of 3) of the finest German series of fruit illustrations ever published. “A delightful and charming work” (Dunthorne) with highly finished plates, some of the best 18th-century illustrations of fruit. The first 2 volumes comprise all the fruits with the exception of apples and pears, which appear in the third volume which was published 21 years later in 1801 and is often wanting. Mayer states in the introduction to the Pomona Franconica that he had first intended to produce only a catalogue raisonné of the different fruit cultivated in the court garden and to illustrate it with 'illuminated' copper-engravings, but that he was then persuaded by 'lovers of gardening' to write a systematic treatise on the cultivation of fruit trees. Dunthorne 220; Nissen BBI 1318; Pritzel 6017; Raphael Oak Spring Pomona 51 (volumes I and II only); Stafleu & Cowan TL2 5748. Ex-library copy but with no markings in the text or plates. William Forsyth (1737 – 25 July 1804) was a Scottish botanist. He was a royal head gardener and a founding member of the Royal Horticultural Society. A genus of flowering plants, Forsythia, is named in his honour.Forsyth was born at Oldmeldrum in Aberdeenshire, and trained as a gardener at the Chelsea Physic Garden as a pupil of Philip Miller, the chief gardener. He took over the chief gardening position in 1771 and became a mentor to John Fraser. In 1784, he was appointed superintendent of the royal gardens at Kensington and St James's Palace, a position he kept until his death. [1] [2]In 1774 he created one of the first rock gardens while curator of the Chelsea Physic Garden. His garden consisted of 40 tons of assorted stone collected from the roadside outside of the Tower of London, some flint and chalk from nearby downland, and some pieces of lava collected from Iceland. The garden failed to produce much serious growth.[3]Forsyth created a 'plaister' in 1789 made of lime, dung, ashes, soapsuds, urine, and other various components that was claimed to cure defects in trees and heal "where nothing remained but the bark." He received a grant of 1,500 from British parliament to continue the creation of the plaister, as the nation was at war in 1789 with Napoleon and needed sound timber to build ships, as much of the Royal Forests were in poor condition.[4][5]His great-grandson was the gardener and landscape architect Joseph Forsyth Johnson (1840–1906). Johnson was in turn the great-grandfather of the entertainer Bruce Forsyth (1928–2017).[6]
(Inventory #: 107339)
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