Thornton, Robert John.

Second edition, 4to (382 x 300mm.), engraved title over two leaves, hand-coloured allegorical plate ("Flora dispensing her Favours on the Earth"), 2 plain engraved plates ("Cupid, Flora, Ceres, and Esculapius, Honouring the Bust of Linnaeus" and "Cupid inspiring Plants with Love"), 28 coloured plates of flowering plants (including the Persian cyclamen not found in some copies), stipple, mezzotint or aquatint, some partially printed in colours and finished by hand, contemporary maroon straight-grained morocco tooled in gilt and blind, gilt edges, [Dunthorne 302; Great Flower Books, p.77; Stafleu TL2 14.283], occasional slight paper toning, extremities rubbed

The reduced version of Thornton's New Illustrations of the Sexual System of Linnaeus. Grigson speculates that copies of, or plates from, this smaller edition were to be given as prizes during the famous "botanical lottery". Thornton was compelled to organise the raffle in order to stave off bankruptcy caused by the publication of the folio edition (see Geoffrey Grigson and Handasyde Buchanan, Thornton's Temple of Flora, 1951).