Waldstein Francisc (1 results)

Hardcover. Condition: Fine. 1st Edition. [2] + XXXII + 105-221 pp. + 101-200 plates (hand-colored copperplate engravings, 6 of which are fold-out); [4] + 223-310 pp. + 201-280 plates (hand-colored copperplate engravings, 5 of which are fold-out). Gr. Folio. Unicus. Uniform contemporary half-leather binding, raised bands, with elegantly gilt-decorated spines. With the original protective tissue guards. The spines show minor wear and small defects, but overall, the set is clean, complete, and a beautiful example. One of the most important, and perhaps the most beautifully illustrated, foundational works in the history of Hungarian botany. In this publication, Kitaibel set out to describe 280 plant species of Hungary that were considered rare. About fifty of these had been described previously, but most were regarded by Kitaibel as entirely unknown from a scientific point of view. Roughly half of all the species described are still recognized worldwide as Kitaibel's discoveries. The complete work was published with 280 large-format, hand-colored plates, each drawn from living plants. In Hungary, drawings were made from plants brought back from the expeditions as well as from specimens cultivated in the botanical gardens of Pest and Vienna by Károly Schütz and his son János, who produced remarkably lifelike illustrations. Kitaibel also took a draftsman with him on his travels, whose identity remains unknown. This monumental deluxe work was not offered through the book trade and was accessible only to a small number of interested scholars and collectors. __________________________________________ Kitaibel devoted most of his time to scientific collecting expeditions. On most of his journeys he was accompanied by Franz Waldstein-Wartenberg, a Czech nobleman with a strong interest in natural science, who was Kitaibel's friend, patron, and benefactor. Waldstein himself was an accomplished botanist, possessing an important specialist library, a plant collection, a botanical garden, and extensive scientific connections. He contributed significantly to the costs of the expeditions and later to the publication of the volumes. The subscription prospectus for the work was published in Vienna in March 1799. The work, issued in decades, saw its first fascicle appear by the end of that year; the first volume, comprising ten decades, was published in spring 1802, while the second and third volumes followed in 1805 and 1812. The final part contains only eight decades, owing to war, adverse economic conditions, and difficulties in obtaining paper. The editing of the volumes was carried out by Waldstein, whose notes provide detailed information on the circumstances of publication. Approximately 200 copies of the fascicles were printed. In the first volume, alongside characteristic species of the Hungarian Great Plain and the Central Mountains, the plants collected during the journeys to the Tatras, Máramaros, and the Banat are presented, as well as the botanical rarities of the Lower Danube region. It is here that Kitaibel describes the new genus that justly immortalized his name in botany, the Kitaibelia (Kitaibel mallow), which he himself discovered in the Syrmia region. The second volume is largely devoted to the botanical rarities of Croatia, then almost completely unexplored, and includes numerous newly discovered species as well as a new genus. Its preface provides a physical-geographical description of Croatia. The third volume contains plants that for various reasons, were omitted from the first two volumes, as well as those that Kitaibel succeeded in identifying only after the publication of the second volume. A description of Slavonia similar to that of Croatia had been planned for the beginning of this volume, but it was ultimately not realized.