GALLESIO Giorgio Traité du citrus.

Pritzel, 3179 ; Bing, 12408 ; Raphael, An Oak Spring Pomona, 1990, n° 74 (“A translation of the first chapters of the Traité du Citrus into Italian was published in 1816 as Teoria della riproduzione vegetale.”) ; Bogaert-Damin, Livres de fruits du XVIe au XXe siècle, 1992, n° 56.

First edition.

Copy of the first-issue , the work was reissued in 1829. The two folded synoptic tables present the Citrus genus in a clear and original way. Giorgio Gallesio (1772-1839) had a passion for arboriculture, which he practised on his estate on the Ligurian coast, and was the author of the Pomona italiana, a masterpiece of botanical illustration.

He is also considered to be the father of citrus genetics. He was involved in species selection, and his experiments were praised by Charles Darwin. The treatise also contains a well-documented historical study in which he traces the stages in the introduction of citrus fruits from Asia.

An exceptional copy.

Provenance :  Autograph ex-dono by the author on the half-title: “A Madame, Madame la Duchesse de Montmorency”, probably addressed to Hortense de Montmorency (1774-1858), daughter of the Duc de Luynes, who had married her cousin Mathieu, Louis XVIII’s Minister of Foreign Affairs. On her return from exile after the Revolution, she settled at the Château de Courtalain, a former family estate in the Dunois region, on the edge of the Perche. Orange and lemon trees adorned the grounds, which were sheltered during the winter in an orangery, as at Versailles.