Rare Books
The first facsimile of one of the great books of botanic art from the edition held in the library of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Jacquin left Vienna in 1754 and spent the following five years collecting, recording and shipping back specimens from across the Caribbean region: Martinique, the Leeward Islands and Antilles, Jamaica, Cuba and the Colombian coast. In the course of his voyage Jacquin's herbarium was destroyed by termites, prompting him to make drawings in situ of the species he had discovered- the originals from which many of the beautiful plates of Plants of the Americas were painted. In 1780 he published the second edition of Plants of the Americas. This book was a true meeting of science and art, with breathtaking results. 264 hand-painted plant portraits of extraordinary detail and accuracy, prefaced by a title page of exuberant beauty. For this facsimile Christopher Mills, Head of Library, Art and Archives at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, has produced a comprehensive account of the genesis and publication of Plants of the Americas, with complete details of the surviving copies of the deluxe second edition and full-colour reproductions of all ten variants of the book's stunning title page. He also documents all the plant species illustrated in Plants of the Americas and provides an extensive bibliography. Richard Deverell, Director of Kew Gardens, has contributed a foreword in which he pays tribute to the beauty and continuing relevance of Jacquin's great work.
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