Indices botanici et materiae medicae quibus plantarum genera. Hactenus instituta: Simplicium... Accedit horti publici bononiensis brevis historia.
Large 8vo., (4) p.l., xx pp., (4) ff., 160 pp., with 2 large folding plates depicting the plans of the botanical garden and measuring [each 42.9 x 30.7 cm]. Bound in contemporary cardboard wrappers, stained blue, corners and edges a bit frayed. Minor foxing, generally in outer margin, and small, light water stain in upper margin of title. Otherwise a fresh and large-margined copy, with deckle edges. Excellent. Rare augmented edition of this analytic catalogue of the contents of the botanical garden at Bologna by Gaetano Monti, radically revising the 1724 edition of his father, Giuseppe Monti. The earlier publication employed Tournefort’s classificatory system, organizing plants according to structure of fruit and flower, but the younger Monti here adopts the Linnaean system of classification. Over 2000 species are listed alphabetically, with an additional classificatory division according to medical properties (34) and suitable remedies, a reminder of the close links the botanical garden had to the medical faculty at Bologna. In addition to this important taxonomic advance, the work is augmented by a history of the Bologna Botanical Garden as well as by a second plate showing how the design and layout of the garden has changed from 1724 (pictured in the other plate): the later plate shows how the garden was enlarged to contain two more parterres in a more geometrically symmetrical configuration of their component parts -- in a word, the impress of French garden design. * Pritzel 6395; Blake, p. 310
Price: $0.00