Die essbaren, verdächtigen & giftigen Schwaemme der Schweiz.

Bern, [privately published], [1843-1850 or 1866]. Folio (38.3 x 28.5 cm). Title (mounted), 46, [ii] pp.; 36 finely hand-coloured lithographed plates. Contemporary dark green grained paper boards. Gilt lines on the spine. = A very rare work (Volbracht: "sehr selten") by the botanist and mycologist Jakob Gabriel Trog (1781-1865). It is the first full-colour book on Swiss mushrooms and depicts and describes the edible, "suspect", and poisonous species, all beautifully drawn and coloured by the Swiss artist, Jacob Christian Bergner (1812-1877). The work, on large paper, was published in six parts between 1843 and 1850. An unaltered reprint (title edition) was published in 1866, shortly after the author's death. Only the title page was partly altered. Since this copy has the title reduced in size, it is not clear which edition it is, but any edition is very rare. The lithographed plates were printed by Hartmann in Bern, but Hartmann is not the publisher. Provenance: on the front pastedown a small, mycological-culinary bookplate of the grand gastronomical library of Jacques and Hélène Bon. The Bon library was assembled over a very long period, and sold some time after Jacques Bon's death on January 15th 2015, at the age of 91. We could not trace any auction records in the last 40 years. A very good copy in a contemporary binding, with wide margins and clean plates. Nissen BBI, 2005; Stafleu & Cowan, 15194; Volbracht, 2129.