Album de plantes marines. Offert à Mme. Larchey par C. Lefèvre. Capitaine d’habillement au 18e. de ligne. de Lefèvre, C - 1860s

Calligraphic manuscript title within pen-and ink-drawing of a broad figural and floral border, and 72 mounted specimens of maritime plants, the majoritiy of the images composed of two or more specimens, with manuscript captions pasted onto 9 thick cardboard leaves each with 4 sunken panels with embossed white paper frames on recto and verso.

Cont. red morocco, with an all over design of embossed lozenges, spine with geometrical ornamentation, covers with a central plate consisting of a three-part arch-topped frame with four round ornamental stamps. All edges gilt. End papers lined with glazed white paper with a watered silk design. Two metal clasps.

A most charming manuscript album. Front paste-down with the label of V. Bergerot, a bookseller and stationer in Pau. A fine example of a mid-19th century highly esteemed pastime of collecting maritime plants not for scientific but for aesthetic reasons, by arranging as many as necessary on carte-de-visite size cardboards in such a pleasing manner to create fantastic "new species", or just for the pleasure of the tiny intricate and fragile structures of the plants. A fresh and clean copy the specimens still preserved in their natural bright colours.