THE FLOWERING PLANTS OF SOUTH AFRICA (Volumes 1-20)

800 hand colour plates each with descriptive text. Volume I is bound in full green leather, the spine is faded with a scuff mark at the top and wear at the corners. Volumes II to XX are uniformly bound in light blue cloth with gilt floral decoration on the spines. Some light foxing throughout.

First edition with the first issue of Volume 1. See Arnold (Marion) et al: South African Botanical Art (2001) page 63, 'Demand for the new publication steadily increased to the extent that when stocks of Volume I were exhausted, a reprint was ordered. The reprinted Volume I is generally inferior to the original, especially in terms of the hand-colouring of the plates. It may readily be distinguished by examining the verso of the title-page which reads 'Made and printed by offset in Great Britain by Williams Clowes and Sons, London and Beccles.'

This credit is absent from the original printing. A further distinction is that the attribution of Plates 37 and 38 is incorrect in the reprinted version. Stella Gower is cited as the artist in the original but in the reprint Plates 37 and 38 are attributed to K.A.Landsell.'

'Since its inception in 1921, this serial, modelled on the former Curtis's Botanical Magazine, has published well over 2000 colour plates of African plants prepared by some 80 artists. The object of the serial is to convey to the reader the beauty and variety of form of the African flora, to stimulate interest in the study, conservation and cultivation of African plants and to advance the science of botany as well as botanical art.' Editor's note.