Tournefort, Joseph Pitton de (1656-1708).

2 volumes, 4to (252 x 188mm.), [18], 544; [4], 526, [40]pp., illustration: 151 engraved plates and maps (a few folding), woodcut initials, head- and tail-pieces, binding: contemporary speckled calf, spines gilt in compartments, some light offsetting and spotting, bindings rubbed

Atabey 959; Weber II, 458; Blackmer 1318; Wilson p.229

first edition. One of the greatest botanists of his day, Tournefort was dispatched by the French court on a two-year mission to study the people, resources, antiquities and botany of the Greek archipelago, Turkey, Asia Minor and Persia. He was especially interested in seeking out plants recommended for medicinal purposes by ancient writers such as Hippocrates and Dioscorides. Tournefort returned to France in 1702, but his formal account of the journey remained incomplete at his death in 1708. The present account is composed of twenty-two long epistolary reports which he had sent back to his superiors.