Orchids, the Royal Family of Plants. With illustrations from nature. . by Miner, Harriet Stewart - 1885

Boston: Lee and Shepard Publishers, 1885. Folio. 345 x 265 mm. (133/4 x 10 1/2 inches). 190 pp. 24 full-page chromolithographic plates. Original publisher's cloth decorated in gilt and brown ink on upper cover.; expertly rebacked; some light offset from the plates to the text on the opposite page, otherwise very good copy. First edition and the First American book on the subject of orchids, beautifully illustrated with high quality lithographs by Hatch Lithographic Company, New York. Hatch Lithographic Company was one of the largest printing firms in America specializing in fine lithographic work after the Civil War. This volume of Miner's prints demonstrates the care and detail of the lithographic process when executed by well-trained printers. The color quality, still as vibrant as when issued, and the registration of color to color is near perfect. Shepard and Lee, the publishers sold this book for $ 15 in a cloth binding like this one and for $30 for a copy in either Turkey Morocco or Tree Calf. A portfolio issue was also available. Harriet Miner's book illustrates 13 genera of orchids in 24 color plates. She includes information about the order and variety of each specimen and includes a short poem from a noted 19th century poet to reflect the essence of the orchid illustrated. An advertisement that appears in the Oberlin Review reads in part, " The work is rather artistic and literary than scientific, still no one will find greater delight in it than the lover and student of flowers." Miner was a graduate of Oberlin in 1860 and an amateur horticulturalist. The book is called by Bennett, "very striking the ranking work on the subject" Bennett, 78. Oberlin Review, Volume 14 Number 20, June 28, 1887, p. 243. Peters, American on Stone, pp. 208-09. (363).