J. Forbes Royle "Himalayan botany" 1833

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Illustrations of the Botany and other branches of the Natural History
of the Himalayan Mountains, and of the Flora of Cashmere
by J. Forbes Royle, Esq., F.L.S. & G.S., M.R.A.S.
London, published by Parbury, Allen, and Co.
1833-35

Original 190-year-old hand-coloured natural-history plates, drawn on stone by Maxim Gauci and others,
coloured by John Clark[e] or Mr. Barclay, after Vishupersaud, Miss Drake, W. Saunders,
Luchmun Sing, J.T. Hart and others, printed by Graf & Soret.

Sheet size: approximately 10.5 x 14 inches on beautiful woven paper.
Our photographs do no justice to these extremely rare plates!

First edition of this 'pioneering ecological study' (Rix) on the trees, shrubs and flowers of the Himalayan region of the Indian sub-continent, largely illustrated with delightful images after Vishnuperand: the greatest Indian botanical artist of his time.

Born in Cawnpore the son of an officer in the service of the East India Company, John Forbes Royle joined the medical staff of the Bengal Army in Calcutta in 1819 or 1820. Three years later, in 1823, he was able to combine his medical and military duties with his love of botany when he was appointed superintendant of the botanical garden at Saharunpore. He carried out a thorough investigation of the properties of traditional plant-based Indian drugs, buying them in the bazaars, and in the present work (vol. I, pp. 239-240) he also recommends the establishment of cinchona (the basis for quinine) in India. He was one of the first to botanise in the Himalayas, and his position at Saharunpore allowed him to commission Vishnupersaud and others to produce an important and valuable collection of beautiful and highly accurate drawings of the specimens he found during his plant-hunting expeditions. The resulting collection also contained the first visual record of many species.

Please click on the thumbnails for an enlarged view of the entire plate.
We apologize for the poor quality of the photographs, which make the plates less attractive than they are 'in person.'
The prints appear better in real life, though there does tend to be some 'rumpling' in the margins along with some light smudges/soiling.

Plate 13

Aconitum heterophyllum

SOFT CREASE UPPER RIGHT CORNER, LIGHT SMUDGES IN OUTER MARGINS

Plate 20

Silene Falconeriana
Lychnis fimbriata

$399.95

SOFT CREASE UPPER RIGHT CORNER, LIGHT SMUDGES IN OUTER MARGINS

Plate 21

Leucostemma latifolia
L. angustifolia
Arenaria festucoides

$399.95

LIGHT BROWNING AROUND EDGES OF PAPER, PER USUAL.

Plate 24

Eurya acuminata
Hypericum Japonicum

CREASE UPPER RIGHT CORNER, SOFT CREASE LOWER LEFT.

$399.95

Plate 26

Cissus rosea
Cissus capreolata

Plate 29

Dictamnus himalayanus

SOME LIGHT SOILING AND SLIGHTLY RUMPLED AROUND EDGES.

Plate 33

Uraria lagopoides
Astragalus leucocephalus

Plate 34

Caragana Gerardiana
Genista versicolor

POOR CONDITION: POORLY REPAIRED TEAR LOWER MARGIN EXTENDING INTO IMAGE (STICKY TAPE STILL ADHERED TO BACK OF PRINT); RUMPLING LOWER PORTION; CREASE UPPER RIGHT. PRICE REFLECTS CONDITION.

$75