L’Émpire des Legumes, Mémoires de Cucurbitus Ier. By Mm. Eugène Nus and Antony Meray. [4], 310 pp. Illustrated with contemporary hand-coloured engraved frontispiece and 24 full page contemporary hand-coloured engraved plates. Royal 8vo., 264 x 180 mm, bound in contemporary half black morocco over matching boards, with the original printed front wrapper bound in. Paris: G. De Gonet, [1851].
First Edition. A rare copy of this masterpiece of nineteenth century French book illustration with its original printed front wrapper bound in. Amédée Varin populates the text with amusing anthropomorphic vegetables to great effect. One could argue these illustrations reach the brilliance of his contemporary J.J. Grandville.
While not the rarest of books, this copy distinguishes itself with the inclusion of the original front wrapper and a minimal amount of foxing that so often mars this book.
