John Hill | The Vegetable System. London, 1761-1775, 20 volumes bound in 13, folio, contemporary calf

John Hill

The Vegetable System. Or, the Internal Structure and the Life of Plants. London: the author, 1761-1775

26 volumes bound in 13, folio (445 x 290mm.), 1546 plain engraved plates on 1544 leaves, contemporary mottled calf, spines richly gilt in seven compartments, gilt armorial to upper covers, green edges, some minor spotting, some offsetting from plates onto facing leaves, extremities slightly rubbed, neatly rebacked

A very good set of the greatest and largest botanical publication of the eighteenth-century. The work is exceptionally rare in a complete state, and the present copy is one of the most complete on the market. Most sets contain a mixture of first and later issues, in this set the volumes are all first editions, except for volumes 1, 4 and 5 which are second editions.

A total of some 26,000 plants are illustrated and described. "The Vegetable system is of great importance because it gave for the first time in the vernacular a comprehensive treatment of the plant kingdom, on a lavish scale... adopting the Linnaean generic names and introducing binary nomenclature" (Stafleu). Numerous species are described for the first time, most being recently introduced exotics.

LITERATURE:

Great Flower Books, p. 59; Henrey, 832; Nissen BBI 886; Stafleu & Cowan, 2772 ; Henrey II, pp. 103-8.

PROVENANCE:

Sir Edward W. Watkin, armorial bookplate and gilt crest on binding; Baron Dickinson Webster, armorial bookplate, both to front pastedowns