botany - 20 titles

Author:  Theophrastus (c.380-287 B.C.)
Title/Imprint: De Historia plantarum (Inquiry Into Plants)
[312] p. ; 32 cm. (fol.); Bartholomaeum Confalonerium de Salodio: Treviso , 1483

This is the earliest work on systematic botany. It was translated into Latin by Theodoros Gazes and edited by Giorgio Merula.
Our copy is bound in old quarter-leather over bevelled wooden boards. The spine has raised bands and the clasps have been repaired. All page edges are red.
Collation: A-H8 I-L6 a8 b6 c-h8 i-k6.
Full title: Theophrasti De Historia plantarum liber primus[-decimus] / / per Theodorum Gazam in Latinum ex Craeco [i.e. Graeco] sermone versus. [Theophrasti De causis planta[rum] liber I[-VI]]
Imprint from colophon (leaf k6 recto): Impressum Taruisii : Per Bartholomaeum Confalonerium de Salodio, anno Domini 1483 die XX Februari.
References: Hain-Copinger 15491* ; Proctor 6489 ; Goff T-155

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Author:  Leonhart Fuchs (1501-1566)
Title/Imprint: De historia stirpium commentarii insignes (On the history of plants)
[28], 896 p. illus., ports. 38 cm.; Isingriniana: Basel , 1542

This work is a landmark in the history of herbals. Its accurate descriptions and drawings of over 500 plants set a new scientific standard.
Our copy was bound by Lloyd, London, and was at one time owned by H.C.L. Morris.
Full title: De historia stirpivm commentarii insignes ... adiectis earvndem vivis plvsqvam quingentis imaginibus ... Accessit ... uocum difficilium & obscurarum passim in hoc opere ocurrentium explicatio

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Author:  Leonhart Fuchs (1501-1566)
Title/Imprint: De historia stirpium commentarii insignes (On the history of plants)
Isingriniana: Basel , 1542

This work is a landmark in the history of herbals. Its accurate descriptions and drawings of over 500 plants set a new scientific standard.
Our copy was bound by Lloyd, London, and was at one time owned by H.C.L. Morris.
Full title: De historia stirpivm commentarii insignes ... adiectis earvndem vivis plvsqvam quingentis imaginibus ... Accessit ... uocum difficilium & obscurarum passim in hoc opere ocurrentium explicatio

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Author:  Andrea Cesalpino (1524 or 5-1603)
Title/Imprint: De plantis
[40], 621, [11] p. ; 22 cm. (4to); Georgium Marescottum: Florence , 1583

This is generally considered to be the first textbook of botany. Cesalpino attempted a new classification system and used it to describe some 1,500 different plants.
Collation: a-e4, A-4K4. In our copy page 281 is misnumbered as 781.
Full title: De plantis libri XVI / / Andreae Caesalpini Aretini, medici clarissimi, doctissimiq; atque philosophi celeberrimi, ac subtilissimi

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Author:  Nehemiah Grew (1641-1712)
Title/Imprint: The anatomy of vegetables begun
16 p. l., 198 (i.e. 186) p., 1 l., [14] p., 1 l. 3 fold. pl. 16 cm.; S. Hickman: London , 1672

Grew is considered by many to be one of the founders of the study of plant anatomy. This book is famous for his belief that plants reproduce sexually, with the stamen and its pollen being the male reproductive organ and the pistil being the female organ.
Collation: A8 a8 B-O8(N6 and O8 blank).
Full title: The anatomy of vegetables begun. With a general account of vegetation founded thereon.

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Author:  Marcello Malpighi (1628-1694)
Title/Imprint: Anatome plantarum
2 v. 91 pl. (incl. front.) 36 cm. Pt. 1, LIV pl.; appendix, VII pl.; pt. 2, XXX pl.; Johannis Martyn: London , 1675-79

Malpighi is the founder of the study of microscopic anatomy. In this book he made important strides in the understanding of plant growth. The appendix provides the first microscopic description of a chick embryo's development.
Officially, only volume 1 and the appendix (all dated 1675) are the Herald. We have included both volumes here as it represents the complete work.
The Appendix follows pt. 1 and has separate paging and title-page dated 1675.
Full title: Marcelli Malpighii ... Anatome plantarum. / Cui subjungitur appendix, iteratas & auctas ejusdem authoris de ovo incubato observationes continens. Regiæ societati, Londini ad scientiam naturalem promovendam institutæ, dicata.

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Author:  Joachim Jungius (1587-1657)
Title/Imprint: Opuscula botanica-physica
[24], 183, [1] p. : ill. ; 21 cm (4to); Georgii Ottonis: Coburg , 1747

This posthumous work describes Jungius's work on plant identification and classification that was quite modern in its outlook.
Collation: a-c4 A-Z4.
Errata: p. [1] is at the end of the work.
Full title: Ioachimi Iungii ... Opuscula botanico-physica / / ex recensione et distinctione Martini Fogelii ...et Ioh. Vagetii ... ; cum eorundem annotationibus accedit Iosephi de Aromatariis ... ad Bartholomeu m Nanti ... omnia collecta, recognita et revisa novisque annotatiun culis illustrata cura Ioh. Sebast. Albrecht …

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Author:  John Ray (1627-1705)
Title/Imprint: Historia plantarum
3 v. : 1 ill. ; 45 cm.; Mariæ Clark: London , 1686-1704

In this work Ray describes some 18,000 plants and set up the species as the basic unit of taxonomy.
Our copy is the special large paper issue of the work.
Tomes 1-2 are paged continuously as follows: 14 preliminary leaves (1st blank), 983 pages, [1] blank leaf (and two leaves inserted repeating p. 59-62); tome 2: 4 preliminary leaves, pp. 985-1944, 35 following unnumbered pages, 1 blank page.
The paging is irregular throughout the work with repetitions in numbering.
Full title: Historia plantarum : species hactenus editas aliasque insuper multas noviter inventas & descriptas complectens ... / / auctore, Joanne Raio ...
Tome 3 was published by Sam. Smith & Benj. Walford and has a different title: Joannis Raii ... Historiæ plantarum tomus tertius : qui est supplementum duorum præcedentium ... accessit Historia stirpium ins. Luzonis & reliquarum Philippinarum / à R. P. Geo. Jos. Camello ... item D. Jos. Pitton Tournefort ... Corollarium institutionum rei harbariæ.
Our copy has the armorial bookplate of Samuel James, Baron Waring.
Our copy is imperfect in that it lacks the imprimatur leaf and conjugate blank in t. 1. (p. . 1 & 2).

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Author:  Rudolph Jakob Camerarius (1665-1721)
Title/Imprint: De Sexu Plantarum Epistola
Appendix I, pp.225-268; Johannis Davidus Zunneri: Frankfurt , 1700

This is the first experimental proof of sexual activity and pollination in plants. It appears here as appendix to M. B. Valentini's Polychresta Exotica (it was first printed in Tubingen in 1694).

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Author:  Stephen Hales (1677-1761)
Title/Imprint: Vegetable Staticks: or, An Account of Some Statistical Experiments on the Sap in Vegetables
[7], vii, [2], 376 p., [19] leaves of plates : ill. ; 20 cm. (8vo); W. and J. Innys: London , 1727

Hales was an innovator in the study of plant physiology. This work describes his scientific studies that determined that plants emit water vapor through their leaves and that sap flows upward in plants.
The plates were engraved by Simon Grebelin.
Page 339 has been misnumbered as 338.
Full title: Vegetable staticks, or, An account of some statical experiments on the sap in vegetables : being an essay towards a natural history of vegetation : also, a specimen of an attempt to analyse the air, by a great variety of chymio-statical experiments, which were read at several meetings before the Royal Society / / by Steph. Hales …

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Author:  Carl von Linné (1707-1778)
Title/Imprint: Systema Naturae, sive Regna Tria Naturae Systematice Proposita per Classes, Ordines, Genera, & Species
[4] p., facsim. [16] p. : tables, port. ; 57.2 cm.; Stockholm , 1907

This is a facsimile reprint of the first edition of 1735 which is very rare. In this work, Linné proposed the classification system that is still in use today.
Full title: Ad memoriam primi sui praesidis eiusdemque e conditoribus suis unius Caroli Linnaei, opus illud quo primum Systema naturae per tria regna dispositae explicavit / / Regia Academia Scientarum Svecica, biseculari natali auctoris denuo edidit.

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Author:  Joseph Gottlieb Kölreuter (1733-1806)
Title/Imprint: Vorläufige Nachtricht von Einigen das Geschlecht der Pflanzen Betreffenden Versuchen und Beobachtungen
4 v. ; 22 cm. (8vo); Gleditschischen Handlung: Leipzig , 1761-66

Kölreuter closely studied the pollinization of plants and described here the process of plant hybridization. This was a direct scientific application of Camerarius's earlier work (see Herald of Science 25).
Our copy is bound in 2 volumes and shelved in 1 box.

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Author:  Jan Ingenhousz (1730-1799)
Title/Imprint: Experiments upon Vegetables: Discovering their Great Power of Purifying the Common Air in the Sun-shine, and of Injuring it in the Shade and at Night.
lxviii, 302, [18] p., [1] folded leaf of plates : ill. ; 22 cm. (8vo); P. Elmsly and H. Payne: London , 1779

In this remarkable work, Ingenhousz announced his discovery of photosynthesis and that only the green parts of plant perform photosynthesis.
Our copy has inscribed on the front free endpaper: James Frobisher, November 30, 1826, London.
Full title: Experiments upon vegetables : discovering their great power of purifying the common air in the sun-shine, and of injuring it in the shade and at night : to which is joined, a new method of examining the accurate degree of salubrity of the atmosphere / / by John Ingen-Housz

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Author:  Christian Konrad Sprengel (1750-1816)
Title/Imprint: Das Entdeckte Geheimniss der Natur im Bau und in der Befruchtung der Blumen
[6], 444 numb. col. on lll leaves, [4] p., XXV leaves of plates : ill. ; 26 cm. (4to); Friedrich Vieweg: Berlin , 1793

This work describes Sprengel's theory of fertilization in plants that is still accepted today.
The title is within an engraved border of numbered illustrations signed Arndt.
In our copy the plates are bound in a separate volume.

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Author:  Matthias Jacob Schleiden (1804-1881)
Title/Imprint: Grundzüge der Wissenschaftlichen Botanik
2 vols. 22 cm. Vol. 1: XXVI, 289, [3] p. ; v. 2: XVIII, 564, [4] p.; Wilhelm Engelmann: Leipzig , 1842-43

Schleiden, along with Theodor Schwann, was the founder of modern cell theory. This work is the culmination of his work on the understanding of plant structure.
Errata on p. [291]-[292], T. 1 and [559]-564, T. 2. Colophon: Druck von F.A. Brockhaus in Leipzig. Our copy is bound together in one volume and is lacking the 4 unnumbered pages after p. 564.
Full title: Grundzüge der wissenschaftlichen Botanik : nebst einer methodologischen Einleitung als Anleitung zum Studium der Pflanze / / von M.J. Schleiden …

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Author:  Hugo von Mohl (1805-1872)
Title/Imprint: Vermischte Schriften Botanischen Inhalts
VIII, 442 p., XIII leaves of plates : ill. (some col.) ; 28 cm.; Ludwig Friedrich Fues: Tübingen , 1845

This work describes Mohl's definitive description of the substance that makes up the main part of a cell, which Mohr called protoplasm.
Our copy bears the bookplate of Donald MacGillavry.

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Author:  Joseph Dalton, Sir Hooker (1817-1911)
Title/Imprint: On the Flora of Australia : its Origin, Affinities, and Distribution
vii, [1], cxxviii, xxxix, [1] p. ; 32 cm.; Lovell Reeve: London , 1859

This book demonstrated Hooker's abilities in the understanding of plant geography and also marked a turning point in the application of the evolutionary theory to botany.
As noted in the work, this is "Reprinted from the Botany of the Antarctic Expedition, Part III, Flora of Tasmania, vol. I." Therefore, this work is not an exact reprint in that Hooker has revised the text to reflect Darwin and Wallace's hypotheses and Mueller's work, cf. Preliminary remarks, p. i.
On verso of title page is noted: "Printed by John Edward Taylor." An "Introductory essay to the flora of New Zealand" forms the xxxix pages at the end. The last page is blank.
Full title: On the flora of Australia : its origin, affinities, and distribution : being an introductory essay to the flora of Tasmania / / by Joseph Dalton Hooker ....

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Author:  Wilhelm Friedrich Benedict Hofmeister (1824-1877)
Title/Imprint: On the Germination, Development, and Fructification of the Higher Cryptogamia
xvii, [1], 506 p., LXV leaves of plates : ill. ; 23 cm.; for the Ray Society, by Robert Hardwicke: London , 1862

This is the English translation of Hofmeister's 1851 work on ferns, mosses, and algae (cryptogams) and revealed how the process of fertilization was due to the alternation of sexual and asexual generation. He also demonstrated how the conifers (gymnosperms) fell between the cryptogams and flowering plants.
Full title: On the germination, development, and fructification of the higher Cryptogamia : and on the fructification of the Coniferæ / / by Dr. Wilhelm Hofmeister ; translated by Frederick Currey ...
Original title: Vergleichende Untersuchungen der Keimung, Entfaltung und Fruchtbildung hoherer Kryptogamen.

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Author:  Gregor Mendel (1822-1884)
Title/Imprint: Versuche über Pflanzen-Hybriden
[1], 4-47 p. ; 23 cm.; Verlage des Vereines: Brünn , 1866

Mendel published his discovery of the laws of heredity in this article, which appeared in an obscure journal and remained undiscovered or unappreciated until botanists rediscovered it in 1900.
The article originally appeared in: Verhandlungen des naturforschenden Vereines in Brünn Bd. 4, Abhandlungen.
Our copy has written in pencil on recto of front free endpaper: RC Punnett [Punnett, Reginald Crundall, b. 1875].

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Author:  Hugo de Vries (1848-1935)
Title/Imprint: Die Mutationstheorie
2 v. illus., 12 col. pl. 25 cm.; Veit & comp.: Leipzig , 1901-03

This classic work describes de Vries' research in mutations and how it led him to the rediscovery of Mendel's laws of heredity.
Contents: 1. bd. Die entstehung der arten durch mutation.--2. bd. Elementare bastardlehre.
Full title: Die mutationstheorie. Versuche und beobachtungen über die entstehung von arten im pflanzenreich, / von Hugo de Vries.

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