THORNTON, Robert John (circa 1768-1837). New Illustration of the Sexual System of Carolus von Linnaeus . . . the Temple of Flora, or Garden of Nature. London: T. Bensley for the publisher, [1799-] 1807 [watermarked: 1796-1806] Broadsheets (558 x 440mm). 31 PLATES COLOUR-PRINTED IN AQUATINT AND MEZZOTINT AND FINISHED BY HAND, preceded by 4 engraved portraits and a mezzotint of Linnaeus in Lapland dress, and 18 other engraved leaves including an emblematic plate 'The Universal Power of Love'. (Some light spotting or browning, 3 plates with very slight offsetting of text onto the image, 4 plates with very slight spotting, browning or staining to blank margins.) Contemporary diced russia gilt, the covers with wide decorative borders in gilt and blind, composed from various rules and roll-tools, Botfield arms added later to centre of covers, spine in seven compartments with double raised bands, lettered in two, the others with overall symmetrical decoration composed from various small tools, turn-ins with double fillet borders tooled in gilt and blind, g.e. (joints a little weak, corners slightly bumped). A FINE COPY OF THE GREATEST ENGLISH BOTANICAL COLOUR-PLATE BOOK, BOUND FROM THE ORIGINAL PARTS, WITH MOST OF THE PLATES IN FIRST OR EARLY STATES. It includes the Group of [Two] Auriculas, The Queen and The Aloe. The Superb Lily is in Dunthorne's 'B' state, engraved by Earlom. The full details of the publication history of this great work have yet to be unravelled, but to quote Alan Thomas: 'More or less coeval with Redouté in France came the production of the greatest English colour-plate flower book, Thornton's Temple of Flora . . . [Thornton] inherited a competent fortune and trained as a doctor. He appears to have had considerable success in practice and was appointed both physician to the Marylebone Dispensary and lecturer in medical botany at Guy's and St. Thomas's hospitals. But quite early in his career he embarked on his somewhat megalomaniac great work. What Redouté produced under the patronage of L'Héritier, Marie Antoinette, the Empress Josephine, Charles X and the Duchesse de Berry, Thornton set out to do alone . . . Numerous important artists were engaged. There were portraits by Sir William Beechey John Opie Sir Henry Raeburn and others; there were three emblematic frontispieces . . .; and, finally, twenty-eight paintings of flowers commissioned from Abraham Pether known as 'Moonlight Pether', Philip Reinagle . . . Sydenham Edwards and Peter Henderson. Thornton himself painted the most famous plate of all, 'The Roses' . . . The result was almost total failure and involved Thornton in desperate financial straits. His fortune was engulfed and his family reduced to penury. In an attempt to extricate himself he organized the Royal Botanic lottery, under the patronage of the Prince Regent, but this too was a failure . . . It is easy to raise one's eyebrows at Thornton's unworldly and injudicious approach to publishing . . . But he produced . . . the most strikingly beautiful set of flower plates ever to be printed in England, [and] one of the loveliest books in the world.' (A. Thomas: Great Books and Book Collectors p .142 - 144). There is no definitive collation of text and plates in early issues of this book. Grigson and Buchanan ( Thornton's Temple of Flora , 1951) state that "no two copies of this book are alike because the plates were engraved by various presses in several instances thus producing various states'. Stafleu and Cowan 14.283; Great Flower Books p. 77; Dunthorne 301.
THORNTON, Robert John (circa 1768-1837). New Illustration of the Sexual System of Carolus von Linnaeus . . . the Temple of Flora, or Garden of Nature. London: T. Bensley for the publisher, [1799-] 1807 [watermarked: 1796-1806] Broadsheets (558 x 440mm). 31 PLATES COLOUR-PRINTED IN AQUATINT AND MEZZOTINT AND FINISHED BY HAND, preceded by 4 engraved portraits and a mezzotint of Linnaeus in Lapland dress, and 18 other engraved leaves including an emblematic plate 'The Universal Power of Love'. (Some light spotting or browning, 3 plates with very slight offsetting of text onto the image, 4 plates with very slight spotting, browning or staining to blank margins.) Contemporary diced russia gilt, the covers with wide decorative borders in gilt and blind, composed from various rules and roll-tools, Botfield arms added later to centre of covers, spine in seven compartments with double raised bands, lettered in two, the others with overall symmetrical decoration composed from various small tools, turn-ins with double fillet borders tooled in gilt and blind, g.e. (joints a little weak, corners slightly bumped). A FINE COPY OF THE GREATEST ENGLISH BOTANICAL COLOUR-PLATE BOOK, BOUND FROM THE ORIGINAL PARTS, WITH MOST OF THE PLATES IN FIRST OR EARLY STATES. It includes the Group of [Two] Auriculas, The Queen and The Aloe. The Superb Lily is in Dunthorne's 'B' state, engraved by Earlom. The full details of the publication history of this great work have yet to be unravelled, but to quote Alan Thomas: 'More or less coeval with Redouté in France came the production of the greatest English colour-plate flower book, Thornton's Temple of Flora . . . [Thornton] inherited a competent fortune and trained as a doctor. He appears to have had considerable success in practice and was appointed both physician to the Marylebone Dispensary and lecturer in medical botany at Guy's and St. Thomas's hospitals. But quite early in his career he embarked on his somewhat megalomaniac great work. What Redouté produced under the patronage of L'Héritier, Marie Antoinette, the Empress Josephine, Charles X and the Duchesse de Berry, Thornton set out to do alone . . . Numerous important artists were engaged. There were portraits by Sir William Beechey John Opie Sir Henry Raeburn and others; there were three emblematic frontispieces . . .; and, finally, twenty-eight paintings of flowers commissioned from Abraham Pether known as 'Moonlight Pether', Philip Reinagle . . . Sydenham Edwards and Peter Henderson. Thornton himself painted the most famous plate of all, 'The Roses' . . . The result was almost total failure and involved Thornton in desperate financial straits. His fortune was engulfed and his family reduced to penury. In an attempt to extricate himself he organized the Royal Botanic lottery, under the patronage of the Prince Regent, but this too was a failure . . . It is easy to raise one's eyebrows at Thornton's unworldly and injudicious approach to publishing . . . But he produced . . . the most strikingly beautiful set of flower plates ever to be printed in England, [and] one of the loveliest books in the world.' (A. Thomas: Great Books and Book Collectors p .142 - 144). There is no definitive collation of text and plates in early issues of this book. Grigson and Buchanan ( Thornton's Temple of Flora , 1951) state that "no two copies of this book are alike because the plates were engraved by various presses in several instances thus producing various states'. Stafleu and Cowan 14.283; Great Flower Books p. 77; Dunthorne 301.
Try LotSearch and its premium features for 7 days - without any costs!
Be notified automatically about new items in upcoming auctions.
Create an alert
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
