One of the most beautiful Dutch flower books of the 18th century

Icones plantarum rariorum. Delineavit et in aes incidit Henricus Schwegman. Afbeeldingen van zeldzaame en fraaje Bloem- en Plant-Gewassen.

Folio (475 x 295 mm.), half-title, text in Dutch, French and German, 48 engraved plates, all but one coloured by hand, edges uncut, 19th century boards with a later leather spine.

First edition. One of the most beautiful Dutch flower books of the 18th century, with magnificent, carefully engraved and colored botanical illustrations, published in 16 individual editions, completely very rare. Described by Great Flower Books as “the finest eighteenth-century Dutch botanical book; it illustrates plants grown in the famous Voorhelm and Schneevoogt nursery at Haarlem”. The plates were engraved after drawings by Hendrik Schwegman and are notable for the Cape plants illustrated, including a number of ericas. Fine and clean copy. With exlibris from the uncle of Vincent van Gogh (1820-1888). Van Gogh was the uncle of his namesake, the painter Vincent van Gogh, and his younger brother, the art dealer Theo van Gogh. The painter Vincent van Gogh also referred to his uncle, who dealt in art, as Uncle Cent. Both Vincent and his brother Theo began their professional careers in their uncle’s art business; Vincent started in 1869 at the age of 16 in the branch in The Hague, while Theo joined the branch in Brussels four years later, in 1873. Van Gogh withdrew from the active art trade, in which he had become wealthy, in 1873. He settled with his wife Cornelia in Princenhage that same year. During his lifetime, Uncle Cent collected 192 paintings, which he housed in a home gallery in the villa. The collection did not include any Van Gogh paintings, as he considered his nephew’s work too experimental.

Literature: Cleveland Herbal 620 / Nissen BBI 1784 / Great Flower Books p. 75 / Hunt II, 729. / Plesch, Répertoire p. 401 / Stafleu/Cowan 10.931.