Alfred Riocreux

Alfred Riocreux (1820 Sevres - 1912 Paris), a French scientific illustrator and described as the "most distinguished botanical artist of his day".

His failing eyesight obliged him to abandon porcelain painting, and in 1815 to take up the position of Keeper of the Musee de Ceramique at Sèvres.

Hemsley's "Handbook of Hardy Trees, Shrubs, and Herbaceous Plants" (1873) and Gustave Thuret's "Notes Algologiques" (1876-1880) and "Etudes Phycologiques" (1878), the latter being highly acclaimed.

Working from Paris, Riocreux supervised the production of the six hundred plates drawn in pencil by Charles Edward Faxon (1846-1918) and engraved by Philibert and Eugene Picart.

The collection was described as "exceedingly rare and exquisitely illustrated...bound in crushed Levant, beautifully tooled, no date".