The extraordinary magnum opus of Henry Frederick Conrad Sander, a German-born orchidologist who spent much of his career in England. Sander named the collection after Heinrich Gustav Reichenbach, a fellow German and fellow orchidologist, and drew heavily on Reichebach’s work for the text in this collection. The majority of the life-size plates are based on watercolors by Henry George Moon, who eventually became Sander’s son-in-law. Although Reichenbachia was not the first collaboration between Moon and Sanders (they first met in 1884, when Moon visited Sander’s orchid nursery to make drawings for another publication), it is the work for which they are both most famous. The blocks on Moon’s watercolors were hand-made out of wood, and the chromolithographs produced from them sometimes required as many as twenty inks; once the printing was completed, many of the plates were individually hand-finished. As a result, the work was fantastically expensive to print, reportedly costing well over £7,000 (over $1.2 million today).

Large Folios (21.5 in. x 16 in.), Four Volumes. In Good plus condition. Two series bound in four volumes, First series (two volumes) bound in full brown leather with gilt ruling and titling to spines, Second series (two volumes) three-quarters bound in black leather with morocco-grain cloth on boards; Complete with 48 plates to each volume (192 in total), plates for each series numbered sequentially 1-96. Plates are chromolithographic, by Joseph Mansell, G. Leutzsch and J.L. Macfarlane after Henry Moon, W.H. Fitch, A.H. Loch and C. Storer, heightened with gum arabic, wood-engraved illustrations based on original watercolors.

First series (two volumes) with edges and corners of boards, heads and tails of spines, and joints moderately rubbed; numerous light marks to boards. Text on spine of Vol. II reads “Vol. II / Second Series,” but the volume is actually from the first series. The majority of the grey paper wraps from the original monthly publications are preserved and bound in, though several have tears repaired with clear tape. Long closed tear to tissue protector for plate 13; several other tissue protectors with smaller tears. Large tear to page 39 repaired with clear tape. Plate 18 with small closed tear to margin repaired with clear tape; tear to margin of plate 49. Small tear to margin of pages 67, 87. Plate 35 with small patch of paper adhered to gum arabic added to plate (a common issue for this work); plates 81 and 93 in similar state; several other plates with trivial semi-transparent layers of paper fibers adhered to plates. Plate 70 bound in upside down. Tissue protector for plate 90 mostly adhered to gum arabic on plate.

Second series (two volumes) with gilt titling and tooling to boards and paneled spines. Leather considerably rubbed and chipped with several small tears at heads and tails of spines; several tears to cloth covering boards, including a narrow four-inch long patch of missing cloth at the fore-edge of the front board of Vol. 1. Pages of all volumes age-toned with scattered foxing (foxing generally does not impact plates). Small patches of tissue protector adhered to gum arabic on plates 1, 7, 10, 11, 22, 24, 25, 27, 38, 39, 69,and 75. A large patch of tissue protector adhered to plate 2, with an open tear in tissue protector; plates 5, 54, and 56 in a similar state. Tissue protector mostly adhered to plate 8, with large tears in protector; plates 13 and 41 in similar states. Tissue protector for page 78 mostly adhered to plate, with a small tear. Tissue protector mostly adhered to plates 43, 44, 45, and 60. Several tears to tissue protector for plate 36, and smaller minor tears to the edges of other tissue protectors.

CONTENTS: First Series, Vol. I (110 pages)--First Series, Vol. II (106 pages)--Second Series, Vol. I (iii, 104 pages)--Second Series, Vol. 2 (114 pages). MC Consignment. Shelved in Room A.

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