[Nurseryman's Sample Book][121 chromolithograph plates]

Rochester, NY: Stecher, Brunswick, 1900. Rare nurserymen's sample book, with 121 color plates of fruit, flowers, & trees. Folds up, with leather covered outer boards; the images are connected with cloth tapes to flip in groups of three, displaying six at a time, so the salesman could dazzle his customers with quick flashes of color. 73 of the images are chromolithographs, mostly by Stecher, with a few by M. Brunswick & Co., both of Rochester, New York; 45 are stencil (pochoir) prints by M. Brunswick (only one is marked 'hand-painted', though most of the process for all of them was done by hand); there are two color halftones and one color wood engraving, unattributed. The Brunswick chromolithos tend to be less sophisticated than the Stechers. Each plate has a brief description of the fruit or plant pictured. Each plate is about 5½" by 8¾". Included are apples, pears, peaches & plums, cherries, grapes, gooseberries & currants, raspberries & blackberries, strawberries & other berries; something called "Eaton's Peach Pie Plant" (looks like rhubarb to me); roses, peonies, clematis, honeysuckle, wistaria (wisteria), Ampelopsis Veitchii (Boston ivy?), weigela; ash, mountain ash, chestnut,elm, tulip tree, maple, poplar, linden, birch, willow, arbor vitae, juniper, spruce, balsam, larch; calycanthus, deutzia,hydrangea, syringa, berberry (barberry), althea, japan quince, spirea, lilac; [hyacinths], gladiolus, tulips, dahlias, tuberose, & japan lilies. No ordering or nursery information is present. Undated, but circa 1893-1900 - one plate is dated 1888, and one peach variety is 'Worlds' Fair'; later examples would include more halftones, a cheaper printing process. Scarce and unique. . First Edition. Hard Cover. Fair/No Jacket. Illus. by Stecher, Brunswick. 6" by 9½".