Art De Confectionner Les Fleurs Artifcielles; Nouvelle edition orne de figures et dediee aux Dames

Paris: Delarue, 1850. Original Wraps. Orig. printed light gray wrappers chipped with slight loss at one lower corner (front cover) and one upper corner (back cover). Very good.. 272 pages in text. 15 x 10 1/2 cm. 25 numbered full-page plates (some double-paged), plus 32 supplemental plates numbered A-Z, AA-FF, with additional plates and illustrations within the text - all in black and white. Text in French, interior clean, initial decorated letters, Glossary of Principal Terms. Practically speaking, artificial flowers differed only in a single feature -- whereas real flowers wilt, 18th and 19th century cloth, paper or wax blooms were relatively imperishable. In the Victorian era artificial flowers were ubiquitous, a woman's garland for all seasons including her death. Initially fashioning flowers was considered an art and craft explicitly reserved for genteel women. Ex-library, internal marking only, discreet one centimeter round on verso of some plates.