MASSON (Francis).
Stapeliae Novae: or, a collection of several new species of that genus discovered in the interior parts of Africa.
THE FIRST BOOK ON SUCCULENTS WITH BEAUTIFUL HAND COLOURED PLATES
Aberdeen-born Francis Masson (1741-1805) was the first collector sent out from Kew on the advice of John Pringle and under the direction of Joseph Banks. He sailed on Resolution, one of the ships on Cook’s second voyage, as far as Cape Town where he remained for the next three years, making three separate journeys into the interior and building collections for Kew. In 1776 he embarked on a tour of the Canaries, Azores, Madeira and St Kitts. He returned to Cape Town in 1786 and concentrated his collecting on the forty miles surrounding the city.
The years 1796-7 were spent seeing this work through the press. Banks arranged publication: it orignally appeared in four parts, and used his favourite Bulmer as the printer. All but one of the plates are after Masson’s own drawings. It is the “earliest colour-plate monograph of any group of succulents” (Rowley). It was an immediate success and its influence was such that Sir James E. Smith commented: “Now every garret and cottage-window is filled with numerous species of that beautiful tribe and every green house glows with the innumerable bulbous plants and heaths of the Cape. For all these we are principally indebted to Mr. Masson…” (Stafleu).
Nissen BBI, 1301; Rowley 208; Stafleu, 5663.
