Arrowroot Plant

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About Arrowroot Plant

London: 1728 (-1738). Mezzotint printed in colours and finished by hand. Engraved by Elisha Kirkall after Van Huysum. Very good condition apart from some overall light foxing and a few mild surface abrasions in the lower right-hand corner of the sheet. Plate mark: 14 7/8 x 9 7/8 inches. Sheet size: 20 1/4 x 14 1/8 inches. A fine plate from Martyn's 'Historia plantarum rariorum', the first botanical book to be illustrated with colour-printed plates.A professor of botany at Cambridge and one of the founders of the London Botanical Society, John Martyn is renowned for his great work Historia Plantarum Rariorum (1728-1737). Devoted to new species cultivated at the Chelsea Physic Garden and Cambridge Botanic Garden, Pulteney proclaims this work to be "the most sumptuous and magnificent work of this kind that had ever been attempted in England". Engraved by Elisha Kirkall after paintings by artists such as Jacob van Huysum, W. Houstoun, Massey, G. Sartorys and R. Sartorius, each plate in this important publication was dedicated to a patron-subscriber with an engraved coat-of-arms or monogram.Cf. Dunthorne 194; cf.Great Flower Books (1990), p. 118; cf. Henrey 1016; cf. Nissen BBI 1289; cf. Pritzel 5921; Stafleu TL2 5563