Viola Tricolor in Picture and Rhyme.

1876. POCCI, Franz, Graf von. Viola Tricolor in Picture and Rhyme. [34] pp. With 8 chromo-lithographs executed by Lemerciér. Folio, 355 x 266 mm, bound in original green publisher's cloth, embossed and gilt, with new endpapers, professionally rebacked with a new matching spine. New York: Stroefer & Kirchner, 1876. First American Edition of the Viola tricolor, certainly one of the most unusual artistic renderings of Pansies. These humorous, nonsense poems are exquisitely illustrated with eight bizarre chromo-lithographs, brilliantly printed by Lemercier of Paris, all of which offer sensational curiosities, including: the Artist at his canvas; the Pas de deux; Don Quixote and Sancho Panza; the University Faculty; the Marriage proposal; the Concert d'amateurs; the Brocken (the gathering place for witches in The Walpurgis Night), and the Argonauts. All the faces have been replaced by variously coloured Pansies, with positively surreal results. The Viola tricolor is hard to find in acceptable condition, and although there is some slight wear to the edge of the binding, it is otherwise in fine, bright state, with the interior immaculate.