MALO, Charles. ~ Histoire des roses... orné de 12 planches, en couleur, dessinées par P. Bessa. Paris: [P. Didot, l’aîné for] Louis Janet, [ 1818].
12mo (147 × 85 mm), pp. iv, 240, plus engraved frontispiece with rose vignette and 12 plates, all finely hand-coloured, folding letterpress calendar for 1819 at rear. Original glazed pink boards. Modern green morocco label, lettered in gilt. Preserved in a modern green half morocco folding case.
First edition. An elegant new year gift book, comprising an illustrated survey of the popular French rose varieties, notes on culture and cultivation and a collection of rose poetry, completed with a calendar for the year 1819. The finely engraved plates are after Pancrace Bessa, a pupil and collaborator of Henri Redouté, painting tutor to the duchesse de Berry, and from 1823, replacing Redouté as official painter at the Museum d’Histoire Naturelle. The book was reissued several times with added calendars for successive years. The varieties illustrated include: Grand cuisse de nymphe, Rose de Portland, Damas simple, Manteau d’Evêque and Rose Bichonne. Nissen 1266; Pritzel 6445.