36 volumes, 8vo
1814 · London
by SOWERBY, James (1757-1822) & Sir James Edward SMITH (1759-1828)
London: J. Davies for the author, 1814. 36 volumes, 8vo. (9 x 5 1/2 inches). Title pages, volume 1 with epigraph, dedication to George, Lord Viscount of Lewisham and preface, 2,592 engraved hand-coloured and partially coloured engraved plates, large-scale folding plates 1760 in volume 25 and 2274 in volume 32, with volume indices and general indices to the entire set with index to Sowerbys English Fungi in volume 36. Contemporary green half morocco with marbled boards, spine gilt, edges gilt, marbled endpapers.
A very fine set of the first edition of this highly important botanical work: a detailed and beautifully illustrated record of the native trees, flowers and plants of Great Britain at the turn of the 19th century. The watermark dates on the endpapers confirm that this set was bound in the period immediately following the publication of the final volume in 1814.
This complete set of 'one of the most celebrated of all British floras ' (Henrey II,p.141) includes both J.E. Smith's General Indexes to the first Six Volumes, published in 1798 (here bound at the end of vol.VI), and the General Indexes to the Thirty-Six Volumes; to which is added, an alphabetical index to English Fungi published by Sowerby in 1814 (here bound at the rear of the final volume). Vol.II has the cancel title mentioning Smith as the author (watermarked '1797') supplements were published between 1829 and 1866. British flora and sylva has 'never been so well portrayed and described as in James Sowerby's English Botany with its text by Sir James Smith, and in William Curtis's Flora Londiniensis. They tell us much about the distribution of the plants at the time, a distribution that has sadly changed for the worse, especially with regard to some of the rarities, such as the Lady's Slipper orchid .... These books serve as a reminder to us of the continual change that is taking place both in our native and garden flora' (Great Flower Books [1990] p.55). Sowerby and Smith cover every aspect of British botany from trees (110 species listed in the index) to lichen (over 300 species), with each entry including the Linnaean binomial, the common name, a botanic description, followed by notes on its distribution and uses. E.g. Plate 610 in vol.IX 'Tilia europea. Lime or Linden-tree. Polyandria Monogynia. Gen.[eral] Char.[acter] ... Spec.[ific] Char.[acter] ... Syn.[onyms] ... The Lime-tree grows truly wild, in many parts of Great Britain, in woods and on grassy declivities, and is still commonly seen in hedges, walks and alleys about houses. It will in some degree bear the smoke of London... On chalky soil its twigs are very red, the leaves downy. It is a tall upright tree, with smooth spreading branches... The flowers, which are delightfully fragrant, especially at night, come forth about July... The bark by maceration separates into tough layers, and is used for making mats by gardeners, and called in the north of europe Bast.
BM(NH) V,p.1982; Bradley Bibliography I,p.395; Dunthorne 291; Great Flower Books (1990) p.140; Henrey III,1366 & 1367; Hunt 717; Johnston Cleveland 601; Nissen BBI 2225; Pritzel 9711; Stafleu & Cowan V,12.221. (Inventory #: 40833)
A very fine set of the first edition of this highly important botanical work: a detailed and beautifully illustrated record of the native trees, flowers and plants of Great Britain at the turn of the 19th century. The watermark dates on the endpapers confirm that this set was bound in the period immediately following the publication of the final volume in 1814.
This complete set of 'one of the most celebrated of all British floras ' (Henrey II,p.141) includes both J.E. Smith's General Indexes to the first Six Volumes, published in 1798 (here bound at the end of vol.VI), and the General Indexes to the Thirty-Six Volumes; to which is added, an alphabetical index to English Fungi published by Sowerby in 1814 (here bound at the rear of the final volume). Vol.II has the cancel title mentioning Smith as the author (watermarked '1797') supplements were published between 1829 and 1866. British flora and sylva has 'never been so well portrayed and described as in James Sowerby's English Botany with its text by Sir James Smith, and in William Curtis's Flora Londiniensis. They tell us much about the distribution of the plants at the time, a distribution that has sadly changed for the worse, especially with regard to some of the rarities, such as the Lady's Slipper orchid .... These books serve as a reminder to us of the continual change that is taking place both in our native and garden flora' (Great Flower Books [1990] p.55). Sowerby and Smith cover every aspect of British botany from trees (110 species listed in the index) to lichen (over 300 species), with each entry including the Linnaean binomial, the common name, a botanic description, followed by notes on its distribution and uses. E.g. Plate 610 in vol.IX 'Tilia europea. Lime or Linden-tree. Polyandria Monogynia. Gen.[eral] Char.[acter] ... Spec.[ific] Char.[acter] ... Syn.[onyms] ... The Lime-tree grows truly wild, in many parts of Great Britain, in woods and on grassy declivities, and is still commonly seen in hedges, walks and alleys about houses. It will in some degree bear the smoke of London... On chalky soil its twigs are very red, the leaves downy. It is a tall upright tree, with smooth spreading branches... The flowers, which are delightfully fragrant, especially at night, come forth about July... The bark by maceration separates into tough layers, and is used for making mats by gardeners, and called in the north of europe Bast.
BM(NH) V,p.1982; Bradley Bibliography I,p.395; Dunthorne 291; Great Flower Books (1990) p.140; Henrey III,1366 & 1367; Hunt 717; Johnston Cleveland 601; Nissen BBI 2225; Pritzel 9711; Stafleu & Cowan V,12.221. (Inventory #: 40833)
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