THE FLORA OF SOUTH AFRICA

First Edition: 4 volumes in 6 parts (volumes 2 & 3 each in two parts), 180 colour plates, many plain plates, and numerous text figures (figure 59 in volume 4 missing as usual), attractively rebound in quarter green Morocco with marbled paper sides, the gilt titling on the spines done to closely approximate that of the original cloth edition, marbled endpapers, a very good set.

This set has been put together from a private collection and a library and then bound. The contents are free of foxing and the plates are bright. The bindings of the original cloth edition are often loose and the plates which are bound in on hinges frequently become detached but here all the bindings are sound and tight making it easy to handle.

‘Marloth was an analytical chemist by profession and soon after he arrived in Cape Town in 1883 he started a herbarium of South African plants. He was devoted to the search for rare flora and he undertook botanical expeditions as far afield as the Karoo, the Free State, Botswana and Namibia.

‘The originals of the colour plates for The Flora of South Africa were painted in Cape Town by artists such as Ester Smith and Ethel May Dixie and printed in Germany. See Woods, 'Veld and Flora', September 1976, pp.10-11. ‘The production of this costly and magnificent work was made possible only by the bountiful generosity of Sir Lionel and Lady Phillips, who together bore the entire cost of printing and publication. After the First World War, the valuable colour plates were sent from Germany to Lionel Phillips’ agents in England for safekeeping. By a cruel stroke of fate the warehouse in which they were stored was destroyed by fire in 1926. Copies of volumes I and IV yet to be bound were also destroyed, which resulted in the production of subsequent copies of these volumes without the colour plates.’

‘This article also discusses the missing figure 59 in volume IV, concluding that as the figure was sent out after publication to be inserted very few copies are found with the missing illustration. The errant illustration was reproduced in 'Veld & Flora' in June 1986 accompanied by a note by R. Geary-Cooke and a photocopy of figure 59 has been included in the set we offer here.’