BOUDIER'S PLATES. 



The best illustrations that have ever been produced of the fungi 

 of Europe are now being published by Monsieur Paul Klincksieck, a 

 book-seller of Paris. They are a superb series of colored plates that 

 have been drawn by Monsieur E. Boudier. 



Two years ago I had the pleasure to dejeuner with Monsieur 

 Boudier, and I then expressed :ny appreciation of his work as follows : 

 "He has prepared a series of plates of the fungi of France which, in 

 beauty, in accuracy, in minute technique are unrivaled by any that 

 -exist today. Compared to them the usual, published plate of Europe 

 is a cartoon." (Myc. Notes, p. 164). 



Monsieur Boudier, in addition to being an authority on mycology, 

 has unusual talent as an artist. This is a combination rarely met. A 

 few good artists, not mycologists, have drawn illustrations of fungi : 

 and many mycologists have issued alleged illustrations of fungi who 

 (judging from their work) could not earn their salt as artists. 

 Monsieur Boudier, in addition to natural artistic talent, has an inex- 

 haustible stock of patience and application in reproducing minute de- 

 tails. The result is a series of plates that, in my opinion, have no 

 equals, except perhaps the magnificent work of the Tulasne brothers. 



Monsieur Paul Klincksieck, the publisher of the work, is also 

 entitled to credit for the manner in which the work is issued. The 

 published plates represent the best product of modern lithographic 

 art, and are as nearly perfect as it is possible to make them. I feel 

 assured that the issuing of this work by Monsieur Klincksieck is not 

 a commercial matter purely, but a subject in which he takes personal 

 pride as a publisher, and that he was prompted to undertake it by a 

 just appreciation of the excellence of Boudier's drawings. 



The publication has not been a financial success. This is due to 

 a number ot causes. It is an expensive work, beyond the reach of 

 the average pocket-book. The publisher, in my opinion, erred in 

 business judgment in requiring an initial subscription to the entire 

 work before he had thoroughly demonstrated the excellence of his 

 reproduction. When the work was begun, two hundred and fifty 

 copies were issued, but when sixty of the subjects had been published, 

 the financial loss was found to be so great that the issue was reduced 

 to one hundred and twenty-five copies, and that number is all that will 

 ever be published. In time the work will become very rare in the 

 book markets. Two series (of the six proposed) will certainly be 

 issued; the first at a considerable loss to the publisher, the second at a 

 heavy expense to the author. Seventy-nine subscribers to the work 

 have been secured. The publisher tells me if he can secure one hun- 

 dred subscribers, it will just cover the expense of issuing, and the 

 series of six hundred plates will then be completed. It will be to the 

 everlasting discredit of Mycology if this work, the most beautiful, ac- 

 curate and creditable that was ever originated, should fail for lack of 

 twenty-one subscribers. It is the duty of every mycologist who can 

 afford it to subscribe. If he can not afford it personally, he should 

 urge the library or scientific institution with which he may have in- 



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