Plates from "The North American Sylva" by François André Michaux

Francois Andre Michaux (1770 - 1855) was a French botanist commissioned by the French government in the early 1800's to explore the forests of the United States, Canada, and Nova Scotia. By 1810 Michaux had completed the North American Sylva, which was published in Paris from 1810 to 1813 and translated into English five years later. The Sylva is illustrated with works by Pierre Joseph Redoute, Henri-Joseph Redoute, and Pancrace Bessa, masters of botanical art. This work is the first significant and most comprehensive description of North American forest trees. Multiple reprintings in Philadelphia and a later supplement by Thomas Nuttall (1786-1859), an English botanist and zoologixt working in North America expanded the reach and importance of this significant publication. The Mercantile's prints are thought to be from Nuttall's publications in the 1840s, 1850s, and 1860s.

St. Louis Mercantile Library Art Museum