MICHAUX, François André (1770-1855) and Thomas NUTTALL (1786-1859). The North American Sylva; or, A Description of the Forest Trees of the United States, Canada and Nova Scotia. Philadelphia: Robert Smith, 1852-1853.

6 volumes, 8vo (254 x 153 mm). 277 hand-colored engraved [Michaux] and lithographed [Nuttall] plates. (Some dampstaining near gutters, mostly at title-pages in some volumes.) ORIGINAL DELUXE PUBLISHER'S BLIND-STAMPED GREEN MOROCCO, covers with large gilt botanical device within decorative borders gilt, spines in 6 compartments with 5 raised bands, gilt-lettering in 2, others gilt, gilt edges (light rubbing to extremities, few small spots of splitting near spine ends to some volumes). Provenance: Mrs. Harold Ross (penciled notation); Presented to the Massachusetts Horticultural Society (blind-stamps on titles).

Later edition, of THE MOST IMPORTANT WORK ON AMERICAN TREES. "Few American color plate books had such lasting popularity as this classic work on American trees, or as tangled a publication history... In 1856 a fire destroyed the premises of the publisher of the joint edition. The Michaux plates were saved, but the Nuttall stones were evidently lost, and the later joint editions used new stones" (Reese, Stamped with a National Character: Nineteenth Century American Color Plate Books 21). Bennett, p.76; Great Flower Books 21; Nissen BBI 1361 & 1458; Sabin 48695 & 56351 ("Of the two works united, it is no exaggeration to remark that it is the most complete work of its kind and is a production of unrivaled interest and beauty").