2 Weinmann Melon Engravings

[Botany] / [Engraving].

WEINMANN Johann Wilhelm.

Melo vulgaris, Melon …[with] Melo viridis striatus et maculosus ….

Regensburg, H. Lentz and H. G. Neubauer, 1737-45

Folio [33 x 21 cm the platemark], (2) copperplate engraving numbered 721 and 723 in the plate, in color ‘mock mezzotint’ with contemporary handcolor. Excellent.

Two engravings of melon plants plant from Johann Wilhelm Weinmann’s Phytanthoza Iconographia, “the first botanical book to use color printed mezzotint successfully” (Hunt). Johann Wilhelm Weinmann (1683-1741) was a German botanist and apothecary in Regensburg, and his monumental series represents the most innovative achievement in botanical illustration of its time. “The mezzotint process used here had been invented by Johann Teyler in the Netherlands around 1688. As practiced there by Bartholomaus Seuter (1678-1754) and Johann Elias Ridinger (1698-1767), it was really a combination of etching and mezzotint, which made possible delicate lines and a very fine grain. The addition of hand-tinting brought about unusual and subtle effects” (Hunt).

 

* Nissen 2126; Sitwell, Great Flower Books, 1700-1900, p. 80; Dunthorne 327; Hunt 494.

Offered as a pair

Price: $550.00