The Verschaffelt Nursery located in Ghent, Belgium, was originated about 1844 by Alexandre Verschaffelt. In 1848 he began publishing his famous Nouvelle Iconographie des Camellias. After his death in 1850, the work was carried on by his son Amhroise Verschaffelt from 1850 to 1852 and later from 1852 to 1860 by his grandson Ambroise Verschaffelt fils. It illustrates and describes 623 cultivars assessed as the most rare and beautiful of that period. The Verschaffelts considered the double forms as most worthy of illustration and generally omitted the single and semi-double forms.

During 13 years, from 1848 -- 1860, one volume per year was published. These 13 volumes, which were fully illustrated by colour plates, were first produced by August van Geert, then by Ambroise Verschaffelt with the intention of giving to posterity a description and perfect illustration in the true colour of those cultivars not previously described which were considered as having sufficient merit to warrant perpetuation. It is also believed that Charles Lemaire had a large part in the authorship of the work.

The plates were drawn in black and white and, after printing, were coloured in by hand as there was no colour printing in those days. This introduced a slight variation of colour between plates of the same cultivar in the different volumes.

The work consists of 623 coloured plates, each accompanied by brief descriptive text, and published in fasciles of 4 plates at the rate of one fascile per month. A fascile was distributed or sold each month, and at the end of the year a title page and alphabetical list of plates were added, thus completing a volume of 48 plates each year, except for 1848 which had 47. In 1945 an American horticulturalist and businessman, Mr E. A. McIlhenny of Avery Island, Louisiana, famous for McIlhenny's hot sauce, published an English translation of the text of Verschaffelt's Nouvelle Iconographie des Camellias under the title New Iconography of the Camellias.

In Australia, John Macarthur, who corresponded with the Verschaffelts, obtained three volumes of the work which are still held by his descendants. The American Camellia Society has two sets of the Iconographie, one of which was the personal copy owned by the Empress Josephine and valued at about $18,000.

The Verschaffelt Nursery also published a number of catalogues during its existence, listing up to 1500 different cultivars.