Item #120708 A superb catalogue containing 142 hand-coloured lithographic plates of Japanese irises, paeonies, magnolias, lycoris and maples, almost certainly issued by the Yokohama Nursery Company. Japanese Plant Nursery Catalogue.
A superb catalogue containing 142 hand-coloured lithographic plates of Japanese irises, paeonies, magnolias, lycoris and maples, almost certainly issued by the Yokohama Nursery Company
A superb catalogue containing 142 hand-coloured lithographic plates of Japanese irises, paeonies, magnolias, lycoris and maples, almost certainly issued by the Yokohama Nursery Company
A superb catalogue containing 142 hand-coloured lithographic plates of Japanese irises, paeonies, magnolias, lycoris and maples, almost certainly issued by the Yokohama Nursery Company
A superb catalogue containing 142 hand-coloured lithographic plates of Japanese irises, paeonies, magnolias, lycoris and maples, almost certainly issued by the Yokohama Nursery Company
A superb catalogue containing 142 hand-coloured lithographic plates of Japanese irises, paeonies, magnolias, lycoris and maples, almost certainly issued by the Yokohama Nursery Company
A superb catalogue containing 142 hand-coloured lithographic plates of Japanese irises, paeonies, magnolias, lycoris and maples, almost certainly issued by the Yokohama Nursery Company
A superb catalogue containing 142 hand-coloured lithographic plates of Japanese irises, paeonies, magnolias, lycoris and maples, almost certainly issued by the Yokohama Nursery Company
A superb catalogue containing 142 hand-coloured lithographic plates of Japanese irises, paeonies, magnolias, lycoris and maples, almost certainly issued by the Yokohama Nursery Company

A superb catalogue containing 142 hand-coloured lithographic plates of Japanese irises, paeonies, magnolias, lycoris and maples, almost certainly issued by the Yokohama Nursery Company

[Yokohama, Yokohama Nursery Company, 1890s].

Oblong folio (approximately 286 x 400 mm), 142 plates (printed rectos only) arranged in six sections, comprising irises (47 full-page plates, numbered 1-31 and 35-50, with three stubs present but apparently as issued); paeonies (78 full-page plates in two series, numbered 1-50 and 1-28); magnolias (five unnumbered plates, one full-page, the others with two illustrations per page); lycoris (five unnumbered full-page plates); and maples (eight plates, containing illustrations of a total of 56 maple leaves, with the last two plates each being full-page collages of seven different leaves).

Contemporary purple cloth (lettered in gilt on the front cover 'Japanese Flowering Plants') stained, unevenly sunned, and worn at the extremities, but minor conservation to the binding and the front inner hinge make it a very presentable object; neat hand-drawn map of Tasmania on an early binder's blank; the contents show minor signs of use and age, with trifling blemishes to some plates (mainly occasional light creases and edge chips, expert infill to a tiny hole near the edge of six plates, a tidemark to one corner-tip, and a tiny inkmark to one margin); overall, these attractive plates are in excellent condition.

A rare (and sumptuous) Japanese nursery catalogue produced for the export market. Generally, the outlines of the flower illustrations are printed lithographically on Japanese tissue paper (rectos only) and fully hand-coloured in watercolour and gouache (the maple leaves may be partially colour-printed). The Yokohama Nursery Company was a consortium formed in the early 1890s for the purpose of exporting Japanese plants, capitalising on the prevailing wave of Japonism in the West. While the Yokohama Nursery Company is nowhere identified in this catalogue, it bears strong resemblance in plate form and content to catalogues known to have been issued by them.

Item #120708

Sold

Ask a Question