In-folio (455 x 300 mm), 6 volumes, T1 - XII-190 pp (mis-calibrated 198), 60 plates (mis-calibrated 58), T2 - (3) ff, 222 pp, 57 plates (61-116), T3 - 256 pp, 60 plates (117-172), T4 - 252 pp, 60 plates (173-231 bis), T5 - (1) f., 262 pp (miscalculated 264), 60 plates (232-291), T6 - 260 pp, 58 plates (292-349). Red bradel paperback, smooth spine decorated with gilt fillets, gilt author, title and appendix, untrimmed (contemporary binding).
First edition, large paper on vellum paper. The first edition of this monumental Flore médicale included 2,000 copies in In-8 format, 20 copies in In-4 format, 5 copies in In-folio format and 2 special copies in In-folio format on vellum, intended for Louis XVIII and François I of Austria respectively.
An exceptional copy with the illustrations in double state, in colour and in bistre. The 355 plates were drawn by Jean-François Turpin (1775-1840) and Ernestine Panckoucke (1784-1860). The latter, a pupil of Gérard Van Spaendonck and later of Pierre-Joseph Redouté, worked on several of the illustrations in the present work; the rest were done by the master botanist and draughtsman responsible for many illustrations, including the famous Flore parisienne.
The main figure behind the Flore Médicale, François-Pierre Chaumeton, presented his major work here and wrote the preliminary discourse. Historically, the illustrations in our work complement the 350 plants listed in the Dictionnaire des sciences médicales par une société de médecins et de chirurgiens, published by the same publisher between 1812 and 1822. Chaumeton was to edit the Dictionary and write many of its articles, but with the Flore Médicale he completed the botanical part - his real passion, which he called the ‘amiable science’.
For this reason, the plants are described with scientific acuity and precision in the text, alongside the plates. The plants are described botanically, then presented in terms of their physical qualities and medicinal properties, and sometimes in other areas, such as perfumery.
Since Linnaean classification had already been the norm since the second half of the 18th century, the plates highlight the sexual organs of the plants shown, with extremely precise details of the stamens, pistils, ovaries, etc. The fruits are systematically dissected, revealing the seeds in cross-section. Jean-François Turpin's illustrations are known for being produced ‘a.l.l.’ (with a magnifying glass). (with a magnifying glass) and our copy is no exception; the illustrations are indeed in the artist's favourite format. A notable exception, the only one known to date, where the format is larger, appeared at an auction at Sotheby's on 29 November 2023. This copy, also unknown to bibliographers, came from the same collection as the present copy. It sold for €152,400. The botanist Jean-Louis-Marie Poiret (1755-1834) and the military physician Joseph Tyrbas de Chamberet (1779-1870) were involved in the development of the Flore Médicale from Volume 3 onwards, as Chaumeton's precarious health finally took its toll on him in 1819. Superb copies in their contemporary bradel boards, very fresh but curiously lacking the bistre plate n°111.
Brunet, I, 1826 ; Pritzel, 1679 ; Dunthorne, 78 ; Nissen, 349 ; Great Flower Books, 53-54 ; British Museum, I, 339 ; Mille et un livres botaniques de la collection Arpad Plesch, 176.
