The Fruits of America.

1852. HOVEY, Charles. The Fruits of America, Containing Richly Colored Figures, and Full Descriptions of All the Choicest Varities cultivated in the United States. Two Volumes. viii, 100; iv, 96 pp. Illustrated with a lithographic frontispiece portrait of Hovey, a lithographic frontispiece portrait of William Sharp, two engraved title vignettes by A. Roberts, and 96 chromolithographic plates of fruits by William Sharp, plus numerous textual illustrations throughout. Tall 4to., 273 x 177 mm, bound by B. Bradley and Co., Boston in contemporary full dark blue morocco, gilt ruled borders on covers, a.e.g, rebacked with original spines laid down. Boston: Hovey & Co. and New York: Appleton, 1852, 1856. First Edition, a fine, complete copy of the most beautiful American work on fruits produced in the nineteenth century, illustrated with 96 chromolithograph plates by the firm of William Sharp of Boston. This is also one of the most lavish American works featuring chromolithographs to have been issued prior to the Civil War. Hovey was a nurseryman of Cambridge, Mass., and a leading writer on horticultural topics. The book was originally issued in parts, from 1847 to 1856, and contains brightly coloured figures and full descriptions of the choicest varieties cultivated in the United States, including varieties of pears, apples, cherries, peaches, plums, strawberries and more. Daniel McGrath states: "In 1852, there was published simultaneously in Boston and New York the first use of chromolithography in an American book. In Hovey's The Fruits of America there are 96 plates [sic] that in gentle gradations of tone put our chromolithographers in the same class with those of England." This copy has less foxing to the plates than most copies; bindings professionally restored. Complete copies such as ours are rare. Oak Spring, Pomona 61 (containing 96 plates, and noting only "twelve plates" in the third part). Reese, Nineteenth Century American Color Plate Books 20. .