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Estimate: $ 20,000 - $ 30,000
A LANDMARK AMERICAN COLOR PLATE BOOK (BOTANICAL.) Allen, John Fisk. Victoria Regia; or the Great Water Lily of America. Letterpress title, dedication to Caleb Cope, 12 pages of text (numbered [5]-16), index, plate list, note and errata. 7 chromolithographed plates (instead of the usual 6; with 2 examples of plate 6.) Folio, 680 x 530 mm, original 1/2 calf over cloth, onlaid leather title label, disbound, lacking back strip, covers warped; foxing, chipping and toning to text leaves; decorative chromolithographed presentation label: "Awarded to F[earing] Burr, by the Massachusetts Horticultural Society for a Collection of Vegetables, 1857." Boston: for the author, Dutton & Wentworth, 1854
"One of the most striking of American botanical books, this is also among the most successful examples of early chromolithography" -- Reese, Stamped, 19. Sitwell, page 69; Nissen, BBI, 16.
Fearing Burr was a prominent Massachusetts horticulturalist of the time. Victoira Regia was named after Queen Victoria, having been described in 1837, the first year of her reign.
