Jardin De La Malmaison

In 1798 Josephine de Beauharnais, Napoleon Bonaparte's first wife, set out to design a palace garden unlike any other in the world. The evidence of her success can be seen between the covers of this extraordinary collection of colored botanical engravings by Pierre-Joseph Redoule and other artists. At its peak, Josephine's garden included more than 250 varieties of plants, exotic flowers from the empress' native West Indies, and rare species from Australia. The catalogue of the garden became famous as one of the most exquisite publications of botanical art in the world. Prestel's elegantly designed volume includes all engravings from the original catalogue together with contemporary photos of the garden today, and an introduction and commentary by specialists from Berlin's Botanical Museum, where the original work is on permanent loan.