43. Frutex lauri longiore folio; 44. Frutex, padi foliis non serratis; 45. The Root; 46. Frutex foliis serratis floribus

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About 43. Frutex Lauri Longiore Folio; 44. Frutex, Padi

Mark Catesby (ca. 1679-1749) Plate from: Hortus Britanno-Americanus: or, a Curious Collection of Trees and Shrubs. Copperplate engravings with original hand-color paper size: 14 1/2” x 11”; Framed size 23" x 19 1/2" London, 1763 Plate from a series of 17 plates of hand-colored engravings by Catesby, of tree parts, mainly flowering branches and fruits, illustrating a total of 62 figures. Plates 1 (Magnolia) and 17 (Nettle-tree [Sabal palmetto] are full-page engravings, the remaining plates each with four subjects. All images after Catesby's own drawings except the first plate, of a magnolia, after G.D. Ehret, most signed with Catesby's monogram. Mark Catesby's rare posthumously published guide to the seed-harvesting, transport, and cultivation in England of North American trees and shrubs. During the eleven years he spent in the Southeastern colonies of America (1712-19 and 1722-26) Catesby shipped to England an impressive quantity and variety of dried specimens as well as living seeds and plants, becoming in the process an expert in the difficult business of transatlantic shipping of botanical specimens. Later, during his years of labor on the Natural History of Carolina, Catesby's connections among prominent London naturalists enabled him to encourage public interest in the cultivation in England of North American plants. He collaborated with several London nurserymen for the propagation and sale of his plants, notably Thomas Fairchild at Hoxton and Christopher Gray at Fulham. Gray's ca. 1737 broadsheet Catalogue of American Trees and Shrubs is illustrated with an engraving by Catesby of a magnolia, resembling the first plate of the Hortus and based on the same Ehret drawing. Catesby illustrated 62 different trees and shrubs in this work. Although most of the plants had already been described in more general terms in the Natural History, Catesby's descriptions in the Hortus are more detailed and focus on such practicalities as the best conditions for harvesting see