Plates for a Herbal
Seaton U.K. Old School Press, 2024. Hardcover. Number 48 of 79 copies numbered 1 - 79, each containing five of the twelve plates that are pulls from the original Morison Copperplates,"taken with the permission of The Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford where the original Herbal resides. There were a further seven hors de commerce copies lettered A to G, each containing all twelve plates. This is a beautiful work that pays admiring homage to the Herbal and the original engravings from Robert Morison's "Plantarum Historiae Universalis Oxoniensis" of 1680 and 1690. The book opens with an introduction to Morison's Herbal, which its writer, Scott Mandelbrote, calls one of the most significant publishing projects undertaken in late seventeenth-century England. There follows a section that describes each plate, including a discussion of that particular plant along with details about the plate itself. The sections describe fritillaries, cabbages, sunflowers, gingers, mixed monocots, carrots, mints, monk's hoods, orchids, chillies [sic], cyclamens, and mosses and lichens.
The text volume has dark blue cloth covers, with a white spine and silver titling to front cover. Following the book are the five plates pulled from the originals chosen for this copy, held in a sleeve; along with them is a booklet containing photographic reproductions of pulls of all twelve plates, reduced to 67% and digitally printed. Both the book and the plates are held in slip case covered in the same blue cloth as the book, with a white title label to spine. The text was hand-set in Monotype Van Dijck type and printed on antique Rives BFK paper. The binding was executed by Ludlow Bookbinders. The Old School Press has inserted a note to the readers informing them that the paper on which the book's text is printed was rescued from other defunct printing house of St. Hugh's Charterhouse monastery in Sussex. The printing house closed its doors in the 1960s and the paper then remained in less than ideal conditions. As a result some sheets show some staining. The pages in this copy show no staining and the book and plates are in fine condition. Folio measuring 12.5 x 18.5 inches. Unpaginated. PRI/071425. Fine.
Item #38139
Price: $800.00