Joseph Quer y Martinez | Flora Española. Madrid, 1762-84, 6 volumes, contemporary mottled calf

Joseph Quer y Martinez

Flora Española, ó historia de las Plantas, que se crian en España... Madrid: Joachin Ibarra, 1762-1784

6 volumes, 4to (260 x 200mm.), numerous engraved vignettes, engraved frontispiece, coat of arms, folding map, and portrait of the author, 213 engraved plates, contemporary mottled calf, spines in compartments with raised bands richly gilt, red and green morocco labels, red edges, marbled endpapers, two volumes with some marginal staining, some plates slightly browned, some offsetting from plates not affecting text, rebacked, slightly rubbed

A rare complete copy of the first major Spanish flora written by a Spanish author. All major bibliographies apart from Stafleu call for 213 plates. Stafleu call for a 4bis. in volume 1 (either an error, or a later added plate).

José Quer y Martinez (1695-1764) was a physician who became director of the Madrid botanical garden in 1755, a post in which he remained until his death. Together with Antonio Cavanilles, his junior, he was the most important Spanish botanist of the eighteenth-century.

PROVENANCE:

Angel Lulio Cabrera (1918-1999, a well-known Spanish-Argentinian botanist), bookplate; C. M. Hicken library stamps to each volume; 'Dado de baja por Duplicado y Conjeado' manuscript note with signature on half titles of each volume