Lot No. 14: HOOKER, JOSEPH DALTON

HOOKER, JOSEPH DALTON

THE RHODODENDRONS OF SIKKIM-HIMALAYA

BEING AN ACCOUNT, BOTANICAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL, OF THE RHODODENDRONS RECENTLY DISCOVERED IN THE MOUNTAINS OF EASTERN HIMALAYA, FROM DRAWINGS AND DESCRIPTIONS MADE ON THE SPOT, DURING A GOVERNMENT BOTANICAL MISSION TO THAT COUNTRY.

Year: 1849

Size: 51 x 38.5 cm (20 x 15 inches)

No. of Illustrations: 30 (1 Hand-coloured lithographic frontispiece and 29 fine plates)

Edited by Sir W. J. Hooker.
Published by: Reeve, Benham, and Reeve 1849-51. Folio, (510 x 390 mm).

3 parts in 1 volume, Tinted lithographed vignette on title, printed in double tint, dedication leaf, list of subscribers, 14 pp, 30 hand-colored lithographic plates by Walter H. Fitch after Hooker, printed by Reeve and Nichols, all with original tissue guards.

A fine neat copy of the highly scare work.
BINDING: Contemporary green half calf over moire green cloth, title in gilt tooled label on upper cover and spine.

Hooker's important work on Rhododendrons, first edition. A very fine copy of the rare edition of this beautifully illustrated work on the elegant Rhododendron family originally from the Foljambe Collection. 'An important work for both the botanist and horticulturalist since it contains descriptions and plates of many of the best Rhododendron species and an account of their discovery' ('Great Flower Books') The Rhododendrons of the Himalayas amply demonstrate the adaptable nature of the plant kingdom: the species described vary from ground hugging 'alpines', to small shrubs, climbers, large shrubs and trees. For example: of the thirty-two species illustrated and described by Hooker in this important monograph, eight are described as trees by Hooker and vary in height from the 'Rhododendron lanatum' (a small tree), to the magnificent 'R. Campbelliae' and 'R. barbatum' at around 40 feet. The beautiful plates are amongst the best examples of the work of Walter Hood Fitch (1817-1892), one of the greatest botanical artists of the nineteenth century.

Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, son of the famous botanist Sir William Jackson Hooker, grew an early interest in plant distribution and the voyages of explorers like Captain James Cook. He joined renowned polar explorer Captain Ross's Antarctic expedition to the South Magnetic Pole. Hooker identifies and collected many new zoological and geological specimens on this expedition. In 1847 Hooker left England for his three year long Himalayan expedition; he would be the first European to collect plants in the Himalaya. In 1848 Joseph arrived and based his expedition in Darjeeling. Hooker wrote to Darwin relaying to him the habits of animals in India, and collected plants in Bengal. Hooker got permission to visit Sikkim in 1849. He explored and travelled along the Great Runjeet river to its junction with the Tista River and Tonglu mountain in the Singalila range on the border with Nepal. Hooker travelled to Zongri, west over the spurs of Kangchenjunga, and north west along Nepal's passes into Tibet. In April 1849 he planned a longer expedition into Sikkim. He travelled north west up the Lachen Valley to the Kongra Lama Pass and then to the Lachoong Pass. On his return to Darjeeling he wrote his journals. He made his last Himalayan expedition to Sylhet and the Khasi Hills in Assam. Hooker's survey of hitherto unexplored regions, the Himalayan Journals, dedicated to Charles Darwin, was published by the Calcutta Trigonometrically Survey Office and Ward, Lock, Bowden & Co., 1891. He started the series Flora Indica in 1855, together with Thomas Thompson. Their botanical observations and the publication of the Rhododendrons of Sikkim-Himalaya (1849–51), formed the basis of elaborate works on the rhododendrons of the Sikkim Himalaya and on the flora of India. Walter Hood Fitch illustrated his works with lithographs.

Fitch had attracted the attention of Sir William Hooker (1785-1865) when he was working as an apprentice to a Glasgow firm of calico designers. `When Hooker was appointed Director of Kew Gardens, he carried his protégé south with him. That was in 1841: for the next fifty years Fitch remained at Kew, and his career is inseparably associated with those of Sir William and his son Joseph.' (Great Flower Books 1990, p.46). 'Fitch had the greatest competence of any botanical painter who has yet appeared in drawing the rhododendron' (Great Flower Books). 'In his lithographs he has captured the exuberant form and Color of these flowering shrubs. Sometimes at the base of the plate, magnified views of the pistils, stamens and sections of the ovaries are presented. The first plate is unusually attractive because the plant is shown in its native habitat, growing among the trunks of fallen trees against a hazy background of Blue Mountains.' (Oak Spring Flora). Fitch remained the chief (and usually sole) artist for the Botanical Magazine for forty-three years, producing over 9000 drawings including some of the most memorable images of his age. The plates are all based on J.D. Hooker's original drawings. Hooker spent several years exploring Sikkim, as well as parts of Nepal and Tibet. His field notes were sent to England from India to his father, Sir William Hooker, who edited the text for this work and contributed a preface giving an interesting overview of the discovery of the genus by western science. In addition to the many botanical discoveries that J.D. Hooker made during his exploration of the region, his 'observations on the geology and meteorology of Sikkim are still fundamental, and he explained the terracing of the mountain valleys by the formation of glacial lakes.' (DNB). A great many of the species of Rhododendron discovered and described here by Hooker were subsequently successfully introduced to western cultivation.
Bibliography: Blunt & Stearn The Art of Botanical Illustration p.264; cf. Bradley Bibliography II, p.676; Sitwell & Blunt p60,. Brunet III, 302; Desmond, Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker (1999) pp. 178ff.; Sitwell & Blunt, Great Flower Books (1990) p.101; Nissen, BBI 911; Stafleu & Cowan II, 2969; Tongiorgi Tomasi, An Oak Spring Flora 104.

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Provenance : Collection of a Gentleman