Vallet, P. Le jardin du roy tres chrestien Henry IV. (Paris) 1608. Fol. (34,5:23,5 cm). Mit gest. Titel, 2 gest. Porträt u. 73 Kupfertafeln. 4 Bll. Alter Kalbldr. mit goldgeprägter Deckelvign., fleckig u. teilw. berieben, einige Restaurierungen, Innengelenke verstärkt, hinteres Vorsatzblatt fehlt. In Maroquinkassette.

Nissen, BBI 2039; Pritzel 9671; Blunt 88 ff. u. Taf. XVa; Hunt 187; de Belder 370. - Seltene erste Ausgabe. "The first important florilegium, a work of great beauty... The author... styles himself brodeur ordinaire to the king, and was also employed in the royal gardens... Marie de Médicis, consort of Henri IV, had a passion for flowers... She set the fashion, soon followed by the ladies of the court, for embroidery with floral designs; and Vallet's florilegium, which was dedicated to her, was primarily intended to serve as a pattern-book. In view of the purpose for which the plates were made, it is curious to find that they are treated with complete naturalism and botanical accuracy. Vallet appears to have been both the draughtsman and the engraver of the book. The plates include some of the plants brought by Jean Robin the Younger from a botanizing expedition in 1603 to Spain and the islands off the coast of Guinea. They are executed with the needle, occasionally supplemented by the burin, but the most successful plates are in pure etching; the use of small dots to produce gradations of tone is particularly effective" (Blunt). Die Tafeln in schönen, kräftigen Abdrucken noch vor der Nummerierung. - Teilw. etwas fleckig bzw. fingerfleckig, meist in den Rändern. Vereinzelte Wasserränder im Rand, 2 Textbll. mit wenigen Tintenflecken. Titel mit kleiner Restaurierung im Rand u. Besitzvermerk "Troufflaut, 1812", dessen Anmerkungen zum Werk auf dem Vorsatzblatt. Das Porträt Vallets möglicherweise aus einem anderen Exemplar ergänzt.

The rare first edition. With etched portraits of Vallet and Jean Robin, 73 etched and engraved plates after and by Vallet, the plates in fine impressions before numbering, portrait of Vallet probably supplied from another copy. - Some staining and thumbing, mostly in margins, some marginal dampmarking in places, few inkstains to 2 text leaves. Title with old owner's entry and marginal repair, annotations to fly-leaf. Bound in old calf, some rubbing and spotting, some restorations, rear fly-leaf lacking; in recent morocco case.