Cattleya Warscewiczii. Sander’s Reichenbachia orchid lithograph c1894.

$500.00

Superb antique print of beautiful Cattleya orchid lithograph, c1888-1894.

Original lithograph printed in colour by Joseph Mansell after the watercolour by landscape painter and botanical artist, Henry George Moon (1857-1905) for Reichenbachia: Orchids Illustrated and Described published in London between 1888 and 1894 by Hanover-born nurseryman Henry Frederick Conrad Sander (1847-1920).

Working at a Forest Hill nursery in England from the age of 20, Sander set up his own independent nursery after Prague explorer and plant collector Benedict Roezl began sending him orchids and tropical plants to sell on consignment. With an aim of producing life-size illustrations of orchids of every class, Sander employed around 20 orchid collectors who travelled to the tropical regions of the world in search of orchid species for Sander. He employed Henry Moon who was an illustrator for the magazine The Garden, and skillfully represented flowers as found in nature. H.G. Moon signed each lithographic plate to show his approval of the lithograph from his watercolour. Sander’s ambitious orchid monograph was named Reichenbachia after the German botanist who devoted his life to studying orchids, Heinrich Gustav Reichenbach (1824-1889).

Page size is 530 x 395 mm (20.75 x 15.5 inches). This lithograph is in fine condition.