Milestones of Science Books

BAUHIN, Gaspard [BAUHINIUS, Caspar].

Phytopinax (graece) seu enumeratio plantarum ab herbariis nostro seculo descriptarum, cum earum differentiis. Additis aliquot hactenus non sculptarum plantarum vivis iconibus. Two parts in one volume.

Basel: Henricpetri, 1596.

1st Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. Item #003234

4to (210 x 158 mm). Titles with printer's device, woodcut portrait of author on verso of first title, woodcut initials, 8 full-page woodcuts of plants bound at end. [44], 669, [11]; [12] pp. Signatures: α-γ⁴ ε⁶ A-2Z⁴, ²2A-2Z⁴, 3A-3Q⁴ ):(⁶. Bound in contemporary vellum, later hand-lettering on spine (light soiling and spotting, small defect of vellum at foot of spine), red-dyed edges. Light browning of text, occasional minor spotting, title-page a bit dust-soiled and spotted and with torn upper corner and 3 tiny holes, insignificant dampstain to lower margin of second half. Provenance: illegible inscription to first flyleaf. Very good copy in untouched binding. ----

EXCEPTIONALLY RARE FIRST AND ONLY EDITION of the author's "first major botanical work" (DSB I, p.522). It includes discussion of numerous American plants. The 8 woodcuts in the appendix are the first illustrations ever of these plants. 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). References: DSB I, p. 522-24; VD 16 B 846 (without the appendix with the woodcut plant illustrations); Adams B 386; Pritzel 505; Wellcome I, 727; NLM/Durling 502; Sachs, History of Botany, p.33; Alden-L. 596/5; not in Stafleu-C., Hunt and Nissen. Visit our website to see more images!

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