This exquisite lithograph by Prestele is from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Pomological Yearbook, which published lithographed versions of the watercolors they commissioned. These watercolors are held in the much lauded & exhibited U.S. Department of Agriculture Pomological Watercolor Collection.
The Artist:
Wilhelm Prestele was a botanical artist known for his exquisite lithographs & watercolors commissioned by the US Department of Agriculture.
William Henry Prestele (1838-1895) was the first botanical artist hired by the USDA's Division of Pomology, in 1887. The Prestele family produced botanical illustrations for USDA and the Smithsonian Institution, as well as for the nursery and seed trade. Their watercolors and lithographs are highest-quality scientific illustrations, as well as fine art (USDA.gov)
An 1869 edition of Gardener's Monthly wrote: "We have now before us a fruit piece...prepared by W. H. Prestele. We are in the habit of admiring European art in this line, and have often wished Americans could successfully compete with it. We now have it here. We never saw anything of the kind better executed from any part of the world"
"The watercolors and drawings of fruit by these artists are among the most beautiful of early American art, no less amazing than the landscape paintings of the same era by the likes of Thomas Cole and his student Frederic Church. Though these artists had widely divergent subjects—towering mountains and flowing water on the one hand, versus seedpods, blossoms, and fruit on the other — they shared a desire for scientific accuracy and transcendent awe for their subjects. Americans’ appreciation for wilderness seemed to have paralleled their enjoyment of the apple" (Linda Hoffman, Apples, Art, and Spirit)
The Publication: The USDA produced (and still produces) many publications. I actually found which publication this print came from on the Biodiversity Heritage Library, which shows the entire thing online, including this amazing print! So this one came from "Annual reports of the Department of Agriculture for 1892".
The Lithographer: Prestele was a renowned lithographer, apparently he lithographed his own stones (as in drew the image in wax resist on the stone) himself. So your looking at prestele's own handwork.
The Fruit: Excerpt from the text:
The Printer: A. Hoen & Co. was a Baltimore, Maryland-based lithography firm founded by Edward Weber in the 1840s as E. Weber & Company. When August Hoen took it over following Weber's death, he changed the name and built the company into one of the most prominent in the industry at the time. In 1877, Hoen entered a print produced by his patented Lithocaustic process in the Centennial Exposition. This work, entitled "The Continentals" was "commended for excellence in chromo-lithographic art" by the judges.
The Technique: These are Stone Chromo-Lithographs, where the image for each color was drawn by hand on heavy slabs of limestone in a water-repellant wax or 'grease'. During printing, water is sponged over the drawn image, which is absorbed into the stone.
When the stone is inked with a roller, it sticks only to the water-repellant drawing, & leaves the bare wet stone clean. The print is then transferred to the paper laid atop the stone & run by hand through a press.
The process is very involved, especially the colored prints, where multiple stones for each color had to line up perfectly with each successive imprint to register perfectly on the page.
These particular lithographs were produced using a hand-applied precursor of the halftone screen, which is now ubiquitous in the machine-prints spit out by today's offset presses.
August Hoen's patented lithocaustic method etched the stone with a mix of citric acid and gum arabic so that the lithographer could see the progress of shaded patterns as they were etched into the stone. He continued to explore methods of producing fine gradations in shading. In 1880, August Hoen was granted several patents for a methods of producing halftone prints using lithography.
Text Page: I don't possess the text page(s) for these USDA plates.
Condition: This one appears to be in Fair condition, on a creamy, white, thick paper, with some age-toning, effects of humidity, etc. to the paper & typical antique character. The colors & detail remain sharp & beautiful.
These prints are very old & may have minor imperfections expected with age, such as text-offsetting, foxing, spotting, minor faint creases, etc, expected with the character & charm of antique prints.
These rare, fine antique handmade bookplates are a usually from an extremely limited original printing during their short heyday, in the 18th & 19th centuries, before modern offset lithography & the dreaded half-tone screen rendered hand-printed engravings & lithographs obsolete.
The few examples of these originals which have been dis-bound from their highly valued antiquarian volumes into their constituent plates, are much coveted & collected for their incredible craft, beauty, artistry & history across generations, generally for eventual framing & displaying. Each one is unique. These are not reproductions, these are the real deal, & very rare.
Occasionally light vintage pencil markings by a collector or dealer are noted in the margins, usually by the original print dealer for cataloguing, these are meant to be erased before framing. Please examine the photos & details carefully.
Shipping: Multiple prints combine into one USPS Flat-Rate envelope. If you'd like to combine & need more time to choose, please send a message & we'll do our best to oblige. If you're assessed multiple shipping for one combined package, we'll endeavor to refund any overage asap.