Linden’s Pescatorea – Volume with 48 Orchid Lithographs

Jean Linden published this remarkable work on orchids in the height of Belgium’s “orchid fever” or “orchidelerium.” Pescatorea: Iconographie des Orchidees. With the collaboration of J.-E. Planchon, M.-G. Reichenbach fils, G. Luddemann was published in Brussels by M. Hayez in 1860.

The large folio work features 48 originally hand-colored orchid lithographs. Each plate is accompanied with a leaf of explanatory text. It is bound in later green half calf, spine in six compartments, upper edge gilt. The binding work is signed by Sangorski and Sutcliffe to the first endpaper.

Jean Jules Linden (1817-1898) was a botanist, explorer, and Luxembourg plant dealer. He served as the director of the Jardin royal de Zoologie et d’horticulture in Brussels. He travelled extensively finding over 1100 species of orchids and importing them to Belgium for cultivation. He founded a nursery in Brussels with his son. Linden’s research and findings revolutionized the cultivation of orchids in Europe.

Provenance: Stamp on general title with “Bibliotheque de San Donato”. Bibliothèque de la Palais de San Donato, Florence, probably sold at their auction in Florence 1880; Olle Wallin (1934-2021), economist who began his professional career working for the Swedish commercial bank Svenska Handelsbanken, after which he was employed by the construction company Beijers, working under Anders Wall.