aesthetic approach, or regard succulents merely as the ugly matrix to a beautiful bloom — will continue to enthrone 

 Redoute as exponent supreme. 



Redoute's art lives on today as ever, surviving changes of fashion and plant nomenclature. Unhappily for 

 the botanist his books are much in vogue as collectors' pieces, and when fme copies come on the market the 

 bidding can be expected to rise to the four-figure level. Even single plates, once a feature of Paris bookstalls along 

 the banks of the Seine, are no longer cheap or easy to get. However, the books can be consulted in the larger 

 libraries, though not always under ideal lighting conditions. The Ariel Press has recently issued first-class and 

 very inexpensive reprints of some of Redoute's flowers and fruits, ^^ 2*" and so well reproduced by modern techniques 

 as to invite comparison with the originals. It is to be hoped that public support will be strong enough to 

 encourage them to extend this scheme to the succulents, which have never been re-issued. 



SUMMARY 



Over 200 published Illustrations in colour of succulents by Pierre-Joseph Redoute have been examined and 

 catalogued, together with their sources, dates and modern names. The greater number appeared in the Plantarum 

 Succulentarum Historia (Plantes Grasses), usually cited under the authorship of A. P. De Candolle, who wrote 

 nearly al! the text. Thirty-one fascicles of six plates each* with text were published over about 32 years. Four 

 additional plates, perhaps for a further but unpublished thirty-second fascicle, are reproduced here for the first 

 time from a copy in the Library of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 



Some aspects of Redoute's interpretation of succulent plants, and of succulent plant illustration in general 

 are discussed. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 



I want to express sincere thanks to the Director of the Royai Botanic Gardens, Kew, for allowing me use of the 

 Library, and permission to have photographed and reproduce plates from Redoute's books. I am also indebted 

 to Messrs. Wheldon and Wesley for enabling me to examine various copies of the Plantes Grasses, including one 

 In original wrappersf which has established beyond doubt the composition of fascicles 1-28, and to Mrs. V. Higgins 

 for reading and commenting on the typescript. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 



(Additional to the special refs. following Plantes Grasses review) 



20 BLUNT, W. The Art of Botanical Illustration. Collins, London, 1950. (Esp. 173 et seq.) 



21 CALLE, J. Bibliographie Plantarum Succulentarum Historia. In " Cactus " No. 42, Dec. 1954, 141-3. 



22 LEGER, C. Redoute et son Temps. Paris 1945. 



23 (Anon.) in Kew Bulletin 1927, Appendix 43-4. 



24 An ideal introduction to Redoute's style with non-succulents are the Ariel Press, London, volumes of " Roses " 



25 (1954, 25/-; popular edition by Foyle, London 1955, IS/-); -Roses I!" (1956, 30/-) and "Fruits and 



26 Flowers " (1956, 35/-). each with 24 full-size facsimile plates in colour. 



* Seven in fasc. 12 



t A similar copy has also been seen at Oxford University Botany Department 



20 



Printed by Strange the Printer Ltd.. London and Eastbourne. L4I59 



