Marks the beginning of a modern natural classification based on general morphology

BAUHIN, Gaspard [BAUHINIUS, Caspar].

Pinax (ΠNAΞ) theatri botanici sive index in Theophrasti, Dioscoridis, Plinii et botanicorum qui a seculo scripserunt.

Basel: Ludwig Konig, 1623.

1st Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. Item #002246

4to (245 x 184 mm). [24], 522, [26] pp. Woodcut device on title, errata on on ZZ1, including final blank ZZ2. Contemporary mottled calf, spine with 5 raised bands gilt in compartments (spine and hinges repaired, extremities worn, rear endpaper renewed). Internally unevenly browned throughout, occasional dampstains to margins, a few smaller wormholes to blank margins, otherwise good copy. Complete, with the errata and final blank. ----

PMM 121; Norman 139; DSB I, p.145; Pritzel 509; Stafleu-Cowan TL2 367; Sachs, History of Botany, p.33. - FIRST EDITION of the work which marks the beginning of a modern natural classification based on general morphology. The work classifies over 6000 species based on affinities rather than the old alphabetical manner of enumeration. "Bauhinus realized the convenience of the binominal nomenclature which later became a central feature of Linne's system. He decisively differentiated genera and species, giving names to genera, but without descriptions, while distinguishing species by diagnostic phrases. Bauhinus' book is still our most important source for the investigation of the botanical literature preceding him, and from it the way leads through Ray to Linne" (PMM).
Bauhin (1560-1624), professor of anatomy and botany at Basel, began a new era in botany, distinguishing it as a science in its own right and abandoning its herbal-medical associations, by creating a modern natural classification based on morphology. "The progress of botanical science ... reaches its highest point in the labours of Gaspard Bauhin, as regards both the naming and describing of the individual plants and their classification according to likeness of habit ... A still higher value must be set on the fact, that in Gaspard Bauhin the distinction between species and genus is fully and consciously carried out; every plant has with him a generic and specific name, and this binary nomenclature which Linnaeus is usually thought to have founded, is almost perfectly maintained by Bauhin, especially in the 'Pinax'" (Sachs).

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