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Plants and their Application to Ornament

Eugène Samuel Grasset (French (born in Switzerland), 1841–1917)
Maurice Pillard Verneuil (French, 1869–1942)
Georges Bourgeot (French, born in 1876)
Marcelle Gaudin (French, active in 1897)
E. Hervegh (French, active in 1897)
Marc Mangin (French, active in 1897)
Anna Martin (French, active in 1897)
J. Milesi (French, active in 1897)
A. Poidevin (French, active in 1897)
Camille Gabriel Schlumberger (French, born in 1864)
Printer and Publisher: Chapman & Hall, Ltd.
1897
Place of Publication: London, England

Medium/Technique Illustrated book with 72 color lithographs
Dimensions Overall: 45.6 × 33.6 × 3.8 cm (17 15/16 × 13 1/4 × 1 1/2 in.)
Sheet (each): 44.8 × 32.4 cm (17 5/8 × 12 3/4 in.)
Credit Line Gift of Ann Vershbow and Charles Beitz
Accession Number2004.2272
NOT ON VIEW
ClassificationsIllustrated books
London: Chapman & Hall, Ltd. [1897]

Catalogue Raisonné Harvard College Library, Turn of the Century, 49 (French edition)
Description(London: Chapman & Hall, Ltd. [1897]) Large folio; 74 leaves; modern half gilt-stamped dark brown calf, decorated fabric boards (J. MacDonald Co., Norwalk, Conn.).

Illustrations of various plants, followed by related decorative applications of plant forms. English edition of "La plante et ses applications ornementales," issued in Paris by the Librairie Centrale des Beaux-Arts, E. Lévy, presumably simultaneously. That edition does not carry a publication date, but is assumed to be 1896/1897. A few plates are dated 1895. The introduction in both editions, signed by Grasset, is dated May 1896. The plates are usually cited as lithographed by a group of Grasset's students after his own watercolors (see Turn of the Century, cat. 49), the largest number by Verneuil. However, none of the plates are even initialled by Grasset, and he is cited only as "Editor" on the title. Both editions comprise two volumes, with 72 plates each. The MFA copy is of vol. 1 only; the only citation found is a copy in the British Library. The title indicates it was issued "in twelve monthly parts."
ProvenanceWaltham Public Library (with discharge stamp); Angus Whyte, Boston, from whom acquired in 1976 by Arthur E. Vershbow; his daughter, Ann Vershbow and husband Charles Beitz, by whom given to MFA, December 29, 2004.