ROME D’ARDENE Jean Paul de Traité des Tulipes, par l’auteur du Traité des Renoncules.

See Hunt (526, note, and number 587 for the 1765 edition) ; not in Nissen, Stafleu-Cowan or Pritzel.

First edition, very rare of this charming book on tulips.

Jean Paul de Rome d’Ardène (1690-1769), a botanist, began his studies in rhetoric and philosophy at the Collège de Marseille before being admitted to the Oratoire in Aix in 1708. Having moved on to study theology in Arles he subsequently taught humanities in Marseille.

In poor health, he retired to his lands in Ardènes in 1714 and was ordained a priest in 1718. He devoted his entire life to the study of botany and published works on the subject, particularly on flowers. His first book (Traité des renoncules, 1746) was much appreciated by readers and was reprinted twice. It was followed by Traite sur les jacinthes (1759), Traité des tulipes (1760), and Traité des oeillets (1762).

His Traité des tulipes, one of the first in the French language, begins with a comprehensive bibliography listing the authors and their works cited in the book (pp. 8-36), followed by a glossary of the technical terms needed to appreciate the treatise. The rest of the book is devoted to the history, description and beauty of tulips, before going into detail about the production of this plant, which was very popular and very expensive at the time. The botanist gives details of how to grow tulips by seed or bulb, how to care for them after flowering, when to plant and when to move them, their diseases, and more.

The beautiful plates were engraved by Claude-Augustin Duflos (1700-1786), an architect and engraver from a dynasty of engravers. The first plate shows details of flowers (5 figures), the other with sections of the fruit and bulbs (9 figures).

A good copy.