Guerin Antique Botanical Prints Fruits and Flowers Hibiscus

Hibiscus, Kerodon
7 by 11 inches
GRN277 $45

We are pleased to offer prints from the French work of Felix Edward Guerin-Meneville’s Dictionnaire Pittoresque d’Histoire Naturelle, published in Paris 1836-1839. Guerin-Meneville (1799-1874) was an entomologist who has several beetles named after him, and a prodigious publisher of these wonderfully creative & inspirational books. These highly decorative plates are vividly hand colored engravings. The volumes are an eclectic collection of curious and wonderful images of birds, fish, insects, fruit, flowers and people, and was termed an Atlas. Each print is a masterpiece of composition, often with a mélange of different creatures and plants artfully arranged on the same plate.

There is no descriptive text, as these prints were bound separately from the text, which has not survived. A copy of the title page is included with each print. The hand coloring is very bright and the plates are often signed and dated by A Carie Baron, Pedretti, du Casse, Adolphe Fries, de Sainson or Varin.