Thomas Horsfield | Plantae javanicae rariores, London, 1838-52, contemporary green half morocco

Thomas Horsfield

Plantae javanicae rariores, descriptiae iconibusque illustratae, quas in insula Java, annis 1802-1818, legit et investigavit. London: W.H. Allen, 1838-1852

FIRST EDITION, folio (365 x 260mm.), folding map, 50 hand-coloured lithographed plates, some double-page, contemporary green half morocco, top edge gilt, occasional slight foxing

Horsfield, an American naturalist, lived in Java for sixteen years, where he assembled a herbarium amounting to some 2,100 species. On his return to England he entrusted the cataloguing and identification of the specimens to Robert Brown, who also arranged publication. The determinations and descriptions were mostly the work of Bennett. The plates are from drawings by John Curtis, who also engraved a number of them.

LITERATURE:

Nissen 934; Stafleu TL2 418 (under Bennett)