THE LITERATURE OF THE ROSE. 



33 



the chain of the literature of the Rose, and from his lesser known 

 descriptive work in German, published in two volumes in 1799 and 

 1803,* it is evident that his knowledge of Roses and their varieties was 

 considerable. 



In 1805 appeared the first part of Roses, or a Monograph of the 

 Genus Rosa, by H. C. Andrews, a work which from the time of its 

 inception to its completion in 1828 illustrated upwards of 100 

 species and varieties of Roses, a short description accompanying each 

 plate. If we cannot give the same unreserved praise to these drawings 

 that we can afford to the illustrations of Heaths and other flowers of 

 the same artist, Andrews' Monograph will always rank as a valuable 

 and interesting contribution to the literature of the Rose, giving 

 more or less faithful representations of many of the older kinds of 

 Roses not met with elsewhere. 



Following on the rising interest in the Rose manifested in England, 

 Germany, and Holland, but perhaps even more as the result of the 

 direct influence of the Empress Josephine, who cultivated a large 

 collection in her garden at Malmaison, the cultivation of the Rose in 

 France began to make great strides in the opening years of the nine- 

 teenth century, and in 1817 appeared the first part of Redoute's 

 magnificent work Les Roses. This great artist, who has been termed 

 " the Raphael of flowers," and whose facile pencil portrayed with 

 equal fidelity and grace the humblest flower of the field and the 

 choicest exotic of the greenhouse and stove, was a native of Belgian 

 Luxemburg, and at the time of the appearance of Les Roses was 

 the Court painter of flowers at Malmaison, the cost of the drawings 

 and engravings of Les Roses being borne by the Empress, f In the 

 169 plates of species and garden varieties of Roses contained in the 

 first, or folio edition, the artist has taken care to avoid all the errors 

 and imperfections of his predecessors and has given us a series of 

 illustrations of Roses that for botanical accuracy, elegance of com- 

 position, and beauty and faithfulness of colouring are beyond all 

 criticism. He was fortunate in enlisting as his colleague C. A. Thory, 

 who furnished, in addition to an introduction setting forth the motive 

 and scope of the work, a copious explanatory text to accompany each 

 plate, and also the bibliography at the end of the first volume, to 

 which reference has already been made. The third volume of the 

 first or folio edition of Les Roses is dated 1824, and in the same year 

 a second edition commenced to appear in a smaller size (8vo), the 

 plates being correspondingly reduced in size. In 1835 a third edition, 

 also in 8vo size, was issued ; this contains portraits of both Redoute 

 and Thory, and is also enriched by a valuable introductory essay on 

 the Rose by the latter author ; the plates also are botanically grouped. 

 In addition to the illustrations contained in Les Roses, other plates 

 of Roses by Redoute are in existence, one of especial interest being 



* Oekonomisch-botanische Beschreibung der verschiedenen und vorziigiichen 

 Arlen Ab- und Spielarten der Rosen. 



t Les Roses de Vlmperatrice Josephine, par J. Gravereaux. Paris, 1912. 



VOL. XXXIX, D 



