This is a absolutely exquisite capsule of a young botanist's days spent gathering and collecting samples of plants and flowers in the French Alps at the turn of the 20th century.

Jean- Marie Alphonse Dumont was born in 1897, the son of wealthy Parents he lived and grew up in a suburb of Annecy in South Eastern France, at the foothills of the French Alps and with the enormous bountiful supply of flora and fauna on his doorstep. This album was most likely a gift for his 13th birthday(named and dated on front of album) to encourage him to take an interest in his local surroundings. Over perhaps several years he collated and collected a comprehensive collection of alpine plants, grasses, seeds & floral plants. He pressed, dried and catalogued in this beautiful 62 page album. He hand writes in ink next to some of the specimens to register the name.

Inside was a small envelope addressed by hand to a Paris address, it included a boulangerie receipt and a sheet torn from a book which listed all the reigning kings/queens of the World (perhaps some homework being studied by Alphonse) we have left this as is.

Plant collecting is the acquisition of plant specimens for the purposes of research, cultivation, or as a hobby. Plant specimens are commonly dried and pressed to preserve the quality of the specimen. Plant collecting is an ancient practice with records of a Chinese botanist collecting roses over 5000 years ago. Although it was during the 19th century and that Europeans started to take a keen interest in becoming botanists.
Herbaria are collections of preserved plants samples and their associated data for scientific purposes. The largest herbarium in the world exists at the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, in Paris, France.

Album measurements-
Height 15.75"/40cms
width. 11"/28cms 
Depth 1.5"/4cms
62 pages 
weight 1.1 kilos unpacked

Condition- Good antique condition, some discolouration to the papers, some samples clearly have dried ad have minimal leaf loss - but overall this is one of the finest examples we have come across ; The contents are in excellent condition and loss is minimal - specimens are on every page except 4.

Please be sure your Country - does not impose restrictions on the import of such journals/albums - ie. containing grasses & seeds - this is the responsibility of the buyer - we cannot be responsible for issues with import.