Author: JOHANN KRAFT
Title: Pomona Austriaca, ou Arbres Fruitiers d'Autriche, Représentés en Figures, Dessinées et Peintes d'Apres Nature. [Fruit Trees of Austria Represented by figures, drawn and painted from Nature.] Abhandlung von den Obstaumen worinn ihre Gestalt, Erziehung und Pflege angezeigt und beschreiben wird mit 100 sehr feinen Abbildungen in Kupfer gestochen und nach der Natur in Farben dargestellt. [Treatise on Fruit Trees wherein their form, growth and tending will be shown and described, with 100 very fine illustrations engraved in copper, and depicted in their natural colours.]
Description: Vienne [Vien]: A. Baumer and Rudolph Graffer, 1796 - 7 [and 1816?] 2 volumes. Folio. [365 x 240 mm] pp. 24 [gFrench text], xvi, 45 [35 numbered 8 times] [German text]> hand painted frontispiece of garland of flowers heightened in gilt> 100 hand coloured plates: 20 [French text], [2], 46 [German text]> 100 hand coloured plates. The deluxe edition in folio with the coloured hand painted frontispiece> list of 37 subscribers. Contemporary tree calf with early reback, spines gilt, margin repair to page 7/8 of Volume 1 French text. The final 20 illustrations of volume 2 are laid down onto what appears to be different versions of the plates. These final plates bear captions in both German and French whereas the first 180 plates bear German captions only. The pastedowns bear a shelf ticket and pencil note "(coll) Metternich", possibly from the library of Prince Klemens von Metternich [1773 – 1859], Austrian politician and statesman. A Fine copy of perhaps the rarest of pomological works. The genesis of this copy is curious and complex having both the French and German texts. The French title page of Volume 1 bears the date MDCCCXVI, although the last four digits have been inserted in ink over a scratched out date [probably 1796 or 7]. The German title page is dated 1816, but again the last three digits have been replaced. The imprints read as follows: Volume 1. French. Vienne: A. Blumauer, MDCCCXVI. [but probably 1796 or 1797] Volume 1. German. Vien: Rudolph Graffer, 1816. [but probably 1796 or 1797] Volume 2. French. Vienne: A. Blumauer, MDCCLXXXXVII. Volume 2. German. Vien : A Blumauer, 1796. According to all the best authorities the German edition preceded the French, but they date it to 1797. It is reasonable to speculate that early in the life of this copy, perhaps in 1816, the German edition was rebound to include the French text before the German presumably to avoid breaking the existing text block. This French text would have been supplied either directly from the publisher who scratched out the dates, or from a defective or incomplete copy of the French issue. It is certain that the French text had at some time been separate from the rest of this copy, as the inner margins of the text bear damp staining, which is not present on the frontispiece, German text or the plates. Genuinely rare both in commerce and in institutional collections> no other copy is recorded with both the French and German texts. Nissen 1097> Plesch p. 292 [defective copy] > Janson pp. 289/91> An Oak Spring Pomona 50.

Keywords: Natural History and Science


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