Descrizione

Lausanne, George Bridel, 1885. Folio (30.7 x 24.5 cm). Title page, [iv] pp., 23 exceedingly fine lithographed plates [Complete] with explanatory leaves. Half cloth over printed boards. gilt title on the spine. = A work containing just the original descriptions, by various authors, and the wonderfully detailed lithographs by Charles Cuisin. The plates were meant for a monographical revision of the willowherbs by the Swiss botanist William Barbey (1842-1914), but it was eclipsed by a work on the same genus by the German botanist and explorer Heinrich Carl Haussknecht (1838-1903) published in 1884. Barbey abandoned his work but thought the plates well worth publishing. This copy is complete - copies with 24 plates do not exsist, since plate 20 was never issued; for plate 20 only an explanatory leaf is present, which explicitely states that it has not been published. Boards a bit worn, spine much more so, especially at head and foot. Blindstamp in the top margin of the title page and one explanatory leaf, otherwise a very good, clean copy - except one marginal spot the plates fresh and spotless. Stafleu and Cowan, 297.