[NURSERYMAN'S GUIDE / AMERICAN CHROMOLITHOGRAPHY]. [Nurseryman's Guide and Sample Book of Fruit Seeds / Catalogue of Trees, Ornamental Ivy and Hedges]

Rochester, NY: Rochester Litho Co, 1910. Very good. Album of 63 chromolithographs / half-tone prints overprinted in one or two colors depicting plants and flowers, in some instances in front of homes, also fruit specimens, all with full-page descriptive text on verso. Black cloth (light soiling, spine somewhat worn), front cover with name "Fairview Nurseries Geneva N.Y." printed in red. ART IN THE SERVICE OF COMMERCE: A NURSERYMAN'S FRUIT AND TREE CATALOGUE IN VIBRANT COLORS. SEED CATALOGUES SUCH AS THIS ONE WERE HEAVILY USED AS VEHICLES OF SALE BY TRAVELING SEED PEDDLERS THROUGHOUT SMALL TOWN AMERICA, AND THEREFORE ALMOST NEVER SURVIVE IN GOOD CONDITION, AS HERE.

"Nurserymen's plates were an American innovation. They were made by various methods, the most distinctive being painted in watercolors. In design and coloring, these plates were more akin to folk painting than to the commercial art of their time" (Charles von Ravenswaay, "Drawn and Colored from Nature," in Antiques Magazine, March 1983, pp. 594-599).

Vintage Nurseryman's Guides provide a "floracopia" of American chromolithography at its apogee. All the plates have descriptive text on the versos, giving name of the plant and information on color, fragrance, taste, preferred growing season, and other particulars. Our catalogue was issued by the Fairview Nurseries of Geneva, New York, which evidently offered a wide selection of apples, peaches, pears, plums, berry fruits, flowers, ornamental shrubs and trees.

Most fruit seed catalogues are undated because the plates were literally assembled according to which seeds were (or would be) in stock, as here. The plates in our Sample Book are preserved in extremely fresh state and MUST BE SEEN to be fully appreciated.