On this site I introduce the classic camellia illustrations from my collection
<1>ILLUSTRATIONS and DESCRIPTIONS...CAMELLIAS(1831)   by A.CHANDLER & W.B.BOOTH
<2>BOLLWEILERER CAMELLIEN-SAMMLUNG(1835)   by C.BAUMANN & N.BAUMANN
<3>ICONOGRAPHIE du GENRE CAMELLIA [ Tome l ](1841)   by M.L.BERLÉSE
  [ Tome ll ](1843) กค  [ Tome lll ](1843)
<4>ANNALES de la societe ROYAL...Gand (( Extract of 26 Camellia plates ))(1845-48)   by Ch.MORREN
<5>NEUVELLE ICONOGRAPHIE des CAMELLIA [ Tome l (Vol.1&2) ](1848-49)   by A.VERSCHAFFELT
 [ Tome ll (Vol.3&4) ](1850-51) ,  [ Tome lll (Vol.5&6) ](1852-53) ,  [ Tome lV (Vol.7&8) ](1854-55) ,  [ Tome V (Vol.9&10) ](1856-57) ,  [ Tome Vl (Vol.11&12) ](1858-59) ,  [ Tome Vll  (Vol.13) ](1860)
<6>L'ILLUSTRATION HORTICOLE (( 59plates from total 63 Camellia plates ))(1854-96)   by LEMAIRE 		<7>CHINKA-HARIAWASE-BYOHBU   (about 1700)   : screen
<8>TSUBAKI-KA-FU   (about 1800)   : scroll
<9>CHINKA-ZUFU  HYAKU-SEN   (about 1850)   : book
<10>KO-JIKISHI  TSUBAKI-E   (about 1700)   : small square piece of thick papers
<11>TSUBAKI-ZU  E-MAKI   (about 1850)   : scroll
<12>HIROSHIGE   (about 1830-1858)   : ukiyo-e
<13>SOMOKU-KIHIN-KAGAMI   (1827)   : book
INTRODUCTION Japanese 
    Around the turn from the Middle Ages into the Modern, the Tokugawa shogunate, established in Edo (Tokyo) (in 1600), brought a peace to Japan after the prolonged warring state.  As gardening became popular, many illustrations and literatures of increasing varieties of camellia were made.
    In 1690, E. Engert Kaempfer, a German doctor and biologist, came to Nagasaki as a doctor for the Dutch East India Company, and he also visited Edo.  After returning home, he wrote the book Aoenitatum Exoticarum which showed an illustration of camellia and introduced 23 varieties (in 1712).    Philipp Franz von Siebolt, a German doctor arriving at Japan in 1823,brought some varieties like Donckeralii to Europe when he returned home in 1829.
    As the trade with China and other countries grew throughout the Age of the Great Voyage,  camellias were imported as well as many things into Europe.  It is said to be around 1739 when the first camellia reached to Europe.  After Alba plena and Variegata were introduced in 1792, various imported varieties were welcomed with enthusiasm.  However, cross-breeding of camellias were spread among many European countries and a large number of new varieties were invented, because there needed a risk of crossing the equator twice in navigation to Europe in those days.  Illustrations of Camellias and Botanical Illustrations were made, which also served as catalogues of such new varieties.  Those books were printed in lithograph, then colored by hand,  the numbers of copies of which were limited. Hence, only royalties, aristocrats, and wealthy merchants were able to purchase them. There are said to be not more than a dozen books in existence in the world.

I will show some illustrations of Japanese camellias and European out of such botanically valuable books as I collected.

I made the Reprints of the old Camellia books by myself and they are on sale now.  They are computer-generated facsimile editions which was introduced in "International Camellia Journal 2000 and 2001" and   website of Prof.Peper ;< Germany > [ http://www.kamelien.de ] .

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TITLE and PRICE of REPRINTS
No. collection no. AUTHOR TITLE published year priceUS$
1 2 C.Baumann & N.Baumann Bollweilerer Camellien-Sammlung 1835 US$110
2 1 A.Chandler & W.B.Booth Illustrations & Descriptions which ......Camellias 1831 US$110
3 3-l M.L.Berlese Iconographie du Genre Camellia[Tome l] 1841 US$210
4 3-ll M.L.Berlese Iconographie du Genre Camellia[Tome ll] 1843 US$210
5 3-lll M.L.Berlese Iconographie du Genre Camellia[Tome lll] 1843 US$210
6 4-l A.Verschaffelt Neuvelle Iconogaraphie des Camellia[Tome l] (Vol.1&2)1848-49 US$210
7 4-ll A.Verschaffelt Neuvelle Iconogaraphie des Camellia[Tome ll] (Vol.3&4)1850-51 US$210
8 4-lll A.Verschaffelt Neuvelle Iconogaraphie des Camellia[Tome lll] (Vol.5&6)1852-53 US$210
9 4-lV A.Verschaffelt Neuvelle Iconogaraphie des Camellia[Tome lV] (Vol.7&8)1854-55 US$210
10 4-V A.Verschaffelt Neuvelle Iconogaraphie des Camellia[Tome V] (Vol.9&10)1856-57 US$210
11 4-Vl A.Verschaffelt Neuvelle Iconogaraphie des Camellia[Tome Vl] (Vol.11&12)1858-59 US$210
12 4-Vll A.Verschaffelt Neuvelle Iconogaraphie des Camellia[Tome Vll] (Vol.13)1860 US$110
13 5 Ch.Morren Annales de la societe Royale .........Gand 1845-1848 US$110
14 6 Lemaire L'Illustration Horticole 1854-96 US$ 80
! No.13(Extract of 26 Camellia plates) , No.14(59 plates from total 63 Camellia plates)

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