This tiny little book written in 1820 by Claude Antoine Thory (1759-1827), hides amongst the Rosarian Library’s French texts. It is tiny in stature but not in nature as it is linked with ‘Les Roses’ by Pierre-Joseph Redoute (1759-1840) for whom Thory wrote the text that describes each one of Redoute’s 169 paintings.
This little book is a brief summary of each of the species and varieties of rose that are known to exist at this time, most of which are illustrated in ‘Les Roses’. So what is the mystery? In the book there are two illustrations only and they state the artist to be H.J Redoute. I presume each is a misprint!
Title page.
Illustration 1.
Illustration 2.