The rose is probably the most adored flower. It is beautiful and can be in various colors. Its fragrance is sweet and attractive, which helps its perpetual popularity. The color of a rose also indicates a meaning in various cultures that adore it. The red rose symbolizes romantic love. The white rose symbolizes purity. The yellow rose symbolizes friendship. The pink rose symbolizes appreciation. Roses are also used to make perfumes and in cooking in the form of rose water. The rose is deeply appreciated and valued.
A part of the flower's legacy is tied to Empress Joséphine, the first wife of Emperor Napoleon of France. Joséphine had a great passion for the rose and other flowers and made the cultivation of the rose popular among the people of the French royal court. Her influence in rose cultivation may have sparked the long standing popularity of the flower until the present day. Her eye for the rose also led her to employ Pierre Joseph Redouté for his love of the flower through his botany and artwork. Joséphine kept Redouté employed and by doing so propelled him to respectable fame and helped his works to gain long-standing appreciation from loves of floral art.
Les Roses, a book and a great work of Redouté is explored here. This study focuses on the first volume of three printed in the early 1800s. The book presents beautiful flowers and their descriptive text. The images engulf the viewer into the page with sumptuous, vivid color and fine details. Redoute also made paintings before adapting his craft to books. Redouté's books and paintings deserve the attention of any admirer of flowers, of the rose in particular and of the great books of time.
Printer(s)
Imprimerie de Firmin Didot (Printing Factory of Firmin Didot)
Fimin Didot (14 April 1764 – 24 April 1836) was a French printer, engraver and type founder who created several font types and even created the term stereotype. In printing, stereotype refers to the metal printing plate created for the actual printing of pages as opposed to printing pages directly with movable type. Didot used the process extensively, which revolutionized the book trade with his cheap editions. (Wikipedia)
Firmin Didot and his family were all involved in printing. Through its achievements and advancements in printing, publishing and typography, the family has lent its name to typographic measurements developed by François-Ambroise Didot, Firmin's father. His father was also the first to print on vellum paper. France is indebted to the family for the printing of the Biographie Nationale (National Biography). The Kingdom of Belgium is also indebted to them for the establishment of its Royal Press.
Place of publication
Les Roses was published in Paris. It is possible that the book was published in the paper factory of the Didot family in the county of Essonne, which is to the south of Paris within the Parisian region. From 1798 to 1837 Paris was the European center of botanical illustration. During that same time Redoute published the three volumes of the series "Les Roses".
During the period of the book's publication, Paris was the center of the French Revolution. The book was published when France went from monarchy to unstable potential republic to empire. The book does not include information on this period of time, but it still serves as a marker of this period of France's history.
The Publisher and the Author
Pierre-Joseph (P.J.) Redouté (1759-1840) created the images and Claude-Antoine Thory (1759-1827) wrote the text.
There is little information on Thory, except that he was gifted at writing eloquently. Also he was presumably from a French speaking country like his fellows Redoute and Didot.
Redouté had a very interesting life, after doing an apprenticeship, he began to travel at the age of 13 to gather more experience. At one point in his life he studied under the botanist, Charles-Louis L'Heritier de Brutelle. De Brutelle persuaded him that the best way of becoming a master of illustration was to study living things. Little by little he met people that helped him at his craft of painting and he even painted for many queens and princesses of France. He found himself in the employ of Queen Marie-Antoinette and Empress Joséphine of France, who was the first wife of Napoleon. He last painted for Marie-Amelie, the niece of Marie-Antoinette.
Redouté was born in Saint-Hubert when it was in Luxembourg, but now it is part of Belgium. He was a painter and botanist of roses. He was known for his watercolor paintings of roses, lillies and other flowers. He was an official court artist for Marie-Antoinette and survived the political changes of the French Revolution and of the Reign of Terror, during which many royals and perceived "enemies of the state" were imprisoned and executed. Today he is still recognized for his paintings, which have well stood the test of time for they are still as beautiful today as they were when first painted.
He was nicknamed the Raphael of flowers and he worked at Malmaison, the chateau of Empress Josephine. Josephine made Malmaison into a beautiful garden house about 7 miles outside of Paris. Redoute recorded and drew the flowers that Josephine had grown there. He found roses, lillies and other flowers from Josephine's place of birth, the French island of Martinique in the Caribbean and from various other places.
The works that Redoute created were not just floral art, but as previously mentioned, were a part of botanical illustration. Botanical illustration was very important for depicting plants and herbs correctly for use in medicine and science. During Redoute's time botanical illustration had become more accurate and advanced making this form of art well respected and important.
Title page
The title page has a note from the author with his signature. This book is the first volume of a series, which is what the text printed below the title means. The text is "Tome Premier", which means "First Volume".
The book is not one of the incunabula, or one of the first books printed after the era of the manuscript. It doesn't count as incunabula because it has a title page. For this reason Les Roses resembles hard cover books that are printed today with its layout of preliminary pages such as the title page. The book also has blank pages at its end before the back cover. The reason for these extra pages is to protect the content and keep it as well preserved as possible.
Introduction
This book is about the flowers that Redouté studied and whose images he printed using an unusual technique of dotting the pages to create their images. Redouté's artwork is still very well respected today and is highly valued. Auction houses and booksellers sell his works at high prices.
One auction house, Sotheby's sells his paintings for thousands of dollars. Another auction house, Christies has a bound set of Les Roses valued between $6,000 and to more than $8,000 from the W. Graham Arader III Gallery. The same gallery is using the online bookseller, Abebooks.com to make some of his books available for sale for hundreds of thousands of dollars. It is strangely ironic that Redouté died relatively poor, but that his surviving works garner so much money today.
Context
The book was printed between 1817 and 1824. The book features roses that have become extinct since the period in which it was printed. Some of the roses featured in the book have since been found again in nature, which gives some hope that not all the roses are gone. Perhaps other species of roses thought to be extinct shall again be found in nature. The book serves as a memorial to these roses and must have been popular with gardeners who in particular adored the varieties of the rose that existed at the time of the book's printing.
Incipit and explicit
Not applicable. The book was published in the early 1800s.
Colophon Size and format
This edition of the book may be an octavo. About 200 to 300 copies of this edition of the book were printed.
The colophon is about 35 millimeters at its widest and about 60 millimeters at its longest. The format of the colophon is large and occupies most of the space on the page on which it is printed. There is also an image of the author, P.J. Redouté on the opposite page to the left. The colophon appears at the beginning of the book not at the back as is common of medieval manuscripts.
The very first printing of "Les Roses" was in octavo size and was also the most expensive edition of the book. The following explains more about the first edition from the website "A Picture of Roses: The Roses painted by P.J. Redouté:"
"The first edition of Les Roses was printed in a deluxe folio edition, 12” x 18” (30 cm x 45 cm) dedicated to Redouté’s new patroness, the Duchesse de Berry. It contained two sets of prints – each rose represented by both a black and white print on tan paper and a colour print on vellum. Owing to its size and technique it proved so expensive to produce that finding buyers, even amongst the nobility, proved difficult. Redouté wrote on one copy “I have printed only five copies of my Roses on this paper and in this form with the plates in black and in colour, of which this is number one."
"Second and third editions appeared respectively in 1824 and 1828. The third, an octavo edition, met with great success. It is estimated that 200-300 copies were produced. While it was less costly than the deluxe first edition printings, it was still a book only the privileged could afford."Collation Paper (watermarks?)
Not applicable; there seems to be no collation nor watermark.
Page layout
The text of the book occupies the center of the page near the spine. There is a lot of empty space on the page, which begs this question: Might the book have been cheaper to publish if more of the space had been used on fewer pages than on more to print the same amount of text and produce the same number of images?.
The printed images of the roses occupy a larger space than that of the text. In comparison the image decals left about six millimeters of space from the decal to the edge of the page, whereas the printed text is about twenty to twenty-one millimeters from the edge of the page.
Foliation/pagination
Page numbering starts on the second page of the foreword (avant-propos). The first page number is 6. The previous pages have no number and presumably the preceding pages are counted without page numbers. This might have been an artistic choice and a classic choice since there are pages of art work before the foreword. It seems to be a classic choice because the first full-page of text, which is the first page of the foreword doesn't have a page number. That is a practice still used today, where the first page of a paper has no number, and the pagination starts from the second page.
The Printer's Type
The typeface is linotype Didot or simply Didot named after Firmin Didot and his family. He published Les Roses. His style of type is considered neoclassical and evocative of the Age of Enlightenment.
The type is handsome and easy to read. Its classification is modern and known as Didone. Didot designed, cut and created the type between 1781 and 1811. Didot's brother Pierre used the type to print books. His best work was his edition of La Henriade by Voltaire printed in 1818. Didot was inspired by the experimentation of John Baskerville with increasing stroke contrast and a more condensed armature in the lettering.
An Italian, Giambattista Bodoni and Didot are credited for the use of the modern classification of typefaces. The types that Didot used are characterized by extreme contrast in thick strokes and thin strokes, by the use of hairline serifs and by the vertical stress of the letters. Many fonts today are available based on Firmin Didot's typefaces. These include Linotype Didot and HTF Didot. (Wikipedia)
The Didot type has another version called Foundry Daylight that was used by the broadcast network CBS with its iconic 'eye' logo. It is interesting to note the influence of a printing type for the use of television.
The Didot type has resurrected in recent years in the printing industry. One problem that has emerged is the "dazzle" effect where the very thin portions of the type face seem to disappear on the page. Those who continue to use this linotype expect this problem to cease in cases where a heavier impression is made on the page thus creating a thicker line that is visible.
Color printing
Several pages have color prints of the flowers. Redouté's manner of using dots to create the images of the flowers is like an early form of computer pixelation.
Rubrication
Not applicable. There is no rubrication of the text, but there are some color prints of the flowers in the first volume of the book series. Not only is red used, but as are other colors.
Decoration
The format of the book is simple except for the images of the flowers. The color printings have been done with amazing detail and the roses seem to jump from the page.
At the time, these colored prints were made by painstakingly engraving onto a metal plate, a mirror-image likeness of the original painting the print-maker desired to capture. The engraving process consisted of building up graduations of shadow and tone by massing together lines.
During a visit to London, arranged by L'Héritier in 1787, Redouté met Francesco Bartolozzi, who
introduced him to the concept of stipple-engraving. This new technique used dots and lines rather than just lines to build the graduations of tone and compared to line engraving produced a more delicate and realistic result. Bartolozzi also introduced Redouté to the process of single-plate color printing, a method that made it possible to add multiple colors to the plate and print it just once. Although, sometimes, special copies had their final coloring touched up by hand.
Over time Redouté expanded these techniques further, inventing in 1786 his own trademark stipple engraving methods. His contribution to the art of print-making earned him the recognition of King Louis XVIII (1755-1824) who awarded him a medal for his achievements in 1796.
Illumination/Painting
Redouté created the images by watercolor on engraved plates. Even after printing the images in a manner like using a decal or a short-term tattoo, he was able to touch-up the watercolor prints by hand.
Binding
The book has a strong bind that has made it durable through time. The outer cover may be suade or felt. Whatever the material be it wraps itself around the hard cover. The skeleton of the book seems to be a hard board material. The inner part of the bind has a oily design that resembles sequins, paisley or a microscopic image. One might not find it too beautiful considering the flowers in the book, but the design makes the book unique.
The spine of the book is in a dark, rich, crimson leather. In the spine are printed gold letters. It is possible that the letter are printed with gold leaf. There is some creasing in the bind indicating its age, but the letters are full and clear for the most part. The worst wear of the bind is at its top and bottom.
Endleaves and flyleaves
The are flyleaves at the front and at the back of the book. At the back of the book the flyleaves are basically blank except for some writing by the Rosenwald Collection who donated the book to the Library of Congress. The endleaves have the same odd paisley pattern as the cover and the inner cover of the book's binding.
Conclusion/Summary
I chose Les Roses for my book study thinking that it would have attractive flowers. I found that it does, but the history of the book's makers enhanced the richness of the book and the impact of my choice. Les Roses is a great example of how much knowledge escapes the average person who literally only judge books by their covers. I never anticipated to uncover so much information about the bookmakers nor about their own histories. This book study revealed to me that there is more to know than simply facts of the book. A book like other creations of the imagination are like time capsules and representations of their periods of time. The weight of history carried by a book is very impressive and Les Roses is an absolute testament to that. Les Roses represents three incredible men, their families, their countries, the French Revolution, Queen Marie-Antoinette, Empress Joséphine, and the adoration of the cultivation of the rose.
Considering all these links to various storylines of the past, it is no wonder that Redouté's works are worth so much today. It is worth noting the wisdom of those who still treasure artifacts of the past. Often these treasures remain in the cultural sphere of the wealthier people, thus it is brilliant that the Library of Congress makes the series Les Roses, this treasure of the past available to all who access its website.
In closing, Pierre Joseph Redouté, Firmin Didot and Claude-Antoine Thory are long dead but their work is still remembered and considering the popularity of Les Roses, they will continue to be remembered for many years to come.
References:
1. AbeBooks. (2011). Les Roses. Retrieved April 15, 2011, from http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=1328976285&searchurl=kn%3Dles%2Broses%26sortby%3D1%26x%3D0%26y%3D0.
2. A Picture of Roses. (2011). Picture of Roses. Retrieved March 30, 2011, from http://www.apictureofroses.com/.
3. Buchan, Ursula. (2010). Gather ye roses.(Gardens). Spectator, 314(9508), 63.
4. Christie's. (2011). Redoute, Pierre-Joseph (1759-1840). Retrieved April 20, 2011, from http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/lot_details.aspx?intObjectID=5062664.
5. Encyclopedia Britannica. (2011). Pierre Joseph Redouté. Retrieved April 10, 2011, from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1384937/Pierre-Joseph-Redoute.
6. Library of Congress Online Catalog. (2011). Les roses, par P.J. Redouté. Retrieved April 23, 2011, from http://catalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?DB=local&BBID=6493494&v3=1.
7. Octavo. (2011). Octavo Editions: Redouté Roses. Retrieved April 14, 2011 from http://www.octavo.com/editions/rdtrse/index.html.
8. Sotheby's. (2011). Lot 29 - Redouté, Pierre-Joseph. Retrieved April 23, 2011, from http://www.sothebys.com/app/live/lot/LotDetail.jsp?lot_id=159542179.
9. Wikipedia. (2011). Pierre-Joseph Redoute. Retrieved April 16, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre-Joseph_Redout%C3%A9.
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