Nehemiah Grew. The Anatomy of Plants, with an Idea of a Philosophical History of Plants, and Several Other Lectures. W. Rawlins, for the Author, [London], 1682.

Price: US$307.68 + shipping

Description: The very scarce first collected edition of Nehemiah Grew's important work on plant anatomy, lacking all eighty-three engraved plates. The very scarce first collected edition of Grew's work. Grew, an English plant anatomist and physiologist, is known as the 'Father of Plant Anatomy', and is remembered as being the first scientist to observe the sexual nature ofplants,and ascribe the male functions to the stamens.This first edition thus largely collects together previous publications from Grew, though some original material is also included.Collected together in this work are: 'An Idea of a Philosophical History of Plants'; 'The Anatomy of Plants, Begun'; 'The Anatomy of Roots'; 'The Anatomy of Trunks'; 'The Anatomy of Leaves, Flowers, Fruits and Seeds', and 'Several Lectures Read Before the Royal Society', with an individual title page for each section.ESTC Citation No. R10887Retaining the initial imprimatur leaf. Collated, lacking all eighty-three plates. Text leaf signatures run: [A4], a4, B-2I4, 2K2, 2L-2X4, 2Y-3C2. Text leaves are collated, complete.Blind stamps to tail of title page, and final leaf.With the bookplate of Thomas Glazebrook Rylands to the front pastedown, and the bookplate of the University of Liverpool to the rear pastedown. In a full tree calf binding. Front board detached, rear joint starting with board slightly tender. Lacking the majority of the back strip. Loss of leather to centre of front board. Bookplates to front and rear pastedown. Internally, firmly bound. Blind stamp to tail of title page and final leaf. Pages significantly age toned due to paper type, with scattered spotting throughout, and the odd instance of foxing. Good Only

Seller: Rooke Books PBFA, Bath, United Kingdom

GREW, Nehemiah. The Anatomy of Plants with an Idea of Philosophical history of Plants. And Several Other Lectures, Read Before the Royal Society. W.Rawlins, 1682.

Price: US$12819.87 + shipping

Condition: Fine

Description: GREW, Nehemiah. The Anatomy of Plants with an Idea of Philosophical history of Plants. And Several Other Lectures, Read Before the Royal Society London, W. Rawlins, 1682. FIRST EDITION. Folio. 83 fine engraved plates, including 3 folding and two double-page and mounted on guards, woodcut headpieces and initials (numerous 7- and 9-line tall). Contemporary calf, skilfully rebacked, gilt spine in 7 compartments with raised bands, decorative panels on covers with external angular fleurons, single-fillet roll gilt along cover edges. Text-block Fore-edge marbled. Bookplate of “Hugh Cecil Earl of Lonsdale” on left pastedown. A fine copy. Rare LARGE PAPER-ISSUE of the first complete edition of “Grew’s chief work which gained him the reputation of being one of the most distinguished scientists of the 17th century” (Hunt). “THE BIRTH OF MICROSCOPIC ANATOMY OF PLANTS” (Grolier Science). “This key work collected together all the botanical research that Grew had presented to the Royal Society during the previous decade. Grew was a conscious pioneer in a hitherto neglected area: as he put it in dedicating his “Comparative Anatomy of Trunks” to Charles II in 1675, ‘I may, without vanity, say thus much, That it was my fortune, to be the first that ever gave a Map of the Country’ (sig. A2v). It is on his findings in this area that his reputation as a scientist is chiefly based. His work was primarily marked by his brilliant observation and description of plants and their component parts; having begun by making observations using only the naked eye, Grew supplemented these with the use of a microscope under the tutelage of his colleague Hooke. His presentations to the society began in 1672-4 with the roots, branches, and trunks of plants, proceeding thereafter to their leaves, flowers, fruit, and seeds. In each area he was innovative, studying for the first time many features of plants that have since been taken for granted, such as their cell-like structure and the growth rings in wood, and deploying techniques which have since become commonplace, such as the use of transverse, radial, and tangential longitudinal sections to analyse the structure of stems and roots. He was also an innovator in the terminology he used to describe plants, first using such terms as ‘radicle’ or ‘parenchyma’, a word adapted from its use in animal anatomy by Francis Glisson” (DNB). Along with Marcello Malpighi, Grew is considered the founder of plant anatomy. Grolier Science 43b; Henrey 162; Hunt 362; Nissen BBI 758; NLM/Krivatsy 4986; Norman 946; Pritzel 3557; Wellcome III, p.164.

Seller: Symonds Rare Books Ltd, London, United Kingdom