Paris, Librairie Centrale des Beaux Arts E. Lévy, 1896. Two parts in two. Folio (45.6 x 34.4 cm). Two half-titles, and two title pages in red and black, iii pp. (introduction by Grasset); 144 chromolithographed plates [72; 72]. Original pictorial boards.

One of the largest and most beautifully illustrated works on flowers and their application in the arts. Edited by the Swiss Art Nouveau artist Eugène Grasset (1841-1917), with contributions by the famous French illustrators Maurice Pillard Verneuil (1869-1942), who published many works under his own name, Schlumberger, Milesi, Anna Martin, and others. The plants, and in particular their flowers, are illustrated after nature, with a clear Art Nouveau touch, followed by stylized illustrations of the same, on one or two subsequent plate(s). The first volume in its original green cloth binding; the second, in original quarter cloth over printed boards. Plate 62 of Part II misnumbered "60". Pictorial bookplate "Le Gout" of Henri Tak (most probably the Dutch librarian, historian and bibliophile Henri Tak [1844-1910]) on the front pastedowns, and another pictorial bookplate, of Heyze-Tak (a spouse or daughter in law?), on the front free endpapers' rectos. Slight wear to board edges; endpapers a bit toned. Not in Schneider-Henn, who lists several other Grasset titles, underscoring its rarity.