Italy, The Netherlands, unpublished, ca. 1877-1929. Folio (40.0 x 23.7 cm). 101 leaves with dried plants mounted. Contemporary burgundy half morocco over grained scarlet morocco. Owner's name in gilt on front board.

A fine, rich herbarium, starting with several plants collected in the gardens of Vatican City and Rome in April 1877, followed by plants chiefly from the Netherlands, of which many are dated (e.g. 1903, 1918, 1929), but also including, e.g., Edelweiss (a flower now protected), to which have been added several drawings, including some that are dated too. Dutch localities include Middelharnis, Waalhaven (Rotterdam), Koedood 'R'dam' (Barendrecht), Wageningsche Berg, the famous Hortus Botanicus in Leiden, Veenendaal, Ouddorp, and so on. A few plants detached, or with an almost inevitable slight loss, otherwise in a beautiful condition. The collectors were Léontine Ursule Epiphanie Stracké (1885-1954), and her father, the Roman Catholic sculptor and painter Johannes Paulus Leo Stracké (1851-1923). Leo Stracké most probably visited Pope Pius IX, whose name is mentioned in connection with some flowers, and of whom Stracké sculpted a statue, the Zouaves Monument, which stands in front of the Oudenbosch Basilica in the Netherlands. An important Roman Catholic monument: ‘Its nave and interior were modeled after St. Peter's Basilica, while the facade is a replica of the Basilica of St. John Lateran ... Dutch Papal Zouaves and local Catholics gathered in Oudenbosch and left for Rome in 1868 to defend the Papal State against Giuseppe Garibaldi's Italian nationalist army. Therefore Pope Pius IX agreed to build a relatively big basilica in a small place' (Wikipedia). Bénézit, 8, p. 147; F. Brinkerink De familie Stracké: beeldhouwpraktijk en carrièrestrategieën (data on Leo Stracké).