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Antique Botanical Print of Breadfruit of Otaheite by Bryan Edwards, 1818
€140 ($160, £120, €140)
Period original, not a reproduction.
Shipped from the Netherlands, flat, insured and tracked, worldwide. Returns accepted within 14 days.
- Date
- 1818
- Size
- 10.6 × 8.3 in (26.8 × 21 cm)
- Condition
- Fair. Wear consistent with age and use. Fair antique condition with considerable age-related toning, foxing and spotting throughout the sheet, particularly in the margins. Minor edge wear and irregularities consistent with age and removal from the original volume.
- Period
- Early 19th century
- Section
- Botanical
- Reference
- f_51398242
Antique Botanical Print of Breadfruit of Otaheite by Bryan Edwards, 1818
Original antique botanical engraving titled "The Bread Fruit of Otaheite," depicting the breadfruit tree with its distinctive large, deeply lobed leaves and two fruits.
The engraving was published in the 1818 London edition of Bryan Edwards' "History of the British West Indies," an important early work on the history, geography, natural history and colonial economy of the Caribbean.
The plate is signed "F. Sansom sculp." and shows the breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis) in considerable botanical detail. "Otaheite" is the historical European name for Tahiti, where breadfruit was an important staple crop.
Breadfruit has a particularly interesting connection with Caribbean history. During the late 18th century, British planters sought to introduce the nutritious and productive plant from the Pacific to the West Indies as an inexpensive food source for the enslaved population. The famous voyage of HMS Bounty under Captain William Bligh in 1787 was undertaken primarily to collect breadfruit plants in Tahiti for transplantation to the Caribbean. After the Bounty mutiny, Bligh made a second expedition and successfully transported breadfruit plants to Jamaica and St. Vincent in 1793.
This attractive engraving therefore combines botanical, Caribbean, Pacific and maritime history and has a direct historical association with one of the best-known episodes in British naval history.
Author: Bryan Edwards (1743–1800)
Engraver: F. Sansom
Title: The Bread Fruit of Otaheite
Subject: Breadfruit / Artocarpus altilis
Technique: Engraving on paper
Origin: London, England
Publication: History of the British West Indies
Date: 1818
Condition:
Fair antique condition with considerable age-related toning, foxing and spotting throughout the sheet, particularly in the margins. Minor edge wear and irregularities consistent with age and removal from the original volume. The engraved image itself remains strong and clearly defined. Please study the photographs carefully as they form part of the condition description.
Other maps and plates from the same 1818 edition of Bryan Edwards' History of the British West Indies are also available.
An original antique engraving, more than 200 years old. Not a modern reproduction.
Sold unframed. Any framed images or interior views shown are for presentation and inspiration only.
