Nicolas Jolyclerc | Phytologie universelle, Paris, 1799, 8 vols, contemporary red morocco gilt by Bozerian

Nicolas Jolyclerc

Phytologie universelle, ou histoire naturelle et méthodique des plantes. Paris: Gauffier, Lamy, Croullebois, 1799 [An VII]

FIRST EDITION, 5 volumes bound in 8, 8vo (200 x 115mm.), 656 hand-coloured engraved plates, contemporary straight-grained red morocco gilt by Bozerian, covers with border of small interlinking circles within double fillets, flat spines gilt in greek-key compartments, gilt turn-ins, turquoise watered silk endpapers, gilt edges

A VERY FINE SET. French botanist and scientific writer, Jolyclerc (1746-1817) was a natural history professor, and the first French translator of Linnaeus. He studied botany first as a child under the Benedictines, but left the Church after the Revolution to teach natural history, in Tulle and then in Beauvois. Phytologie Universelle is considered one of the most beautiful of the late eighteenth-century plant books. 

LITERATURE:

Great Flower Books, p. 62; McGill/Hunt 775; Pritzel 4466; Stafleu TL2