Flora Scotica: or A Systematic Arrangement, in the Linnaean Method, of the Native Plants of Scotland and the Hebrides

Description:

1st edition of this pioneering study on the plants of Scotland. Includes a contribution on the Scottish Fauna by Thomas Pennant.

John Lightfoot (1735–1788) was a Church of England clergyman and naturalist. He was chaplain and librarian for Margaret Bentinck, Duchess of Portland, to whom this work is dedicated. He was also curate of Colnbrook, Buckinghamshire and then of Uxbridge, Middlesex. He devoted his free time to the study of natural history, focusing on the British flora, ornithology, and conchology. In 1772 the traveller and naturalist Thomas Pennant invited Lightfoot to accompany him on a a five-month tour of Scotland on horseback and by sailing boat. Lightfoot wrote his 'Flora Scotica' (published at Pennant's expense) in English rather than Latin, and included information on habitats, synonymy, Scottish and Gaelic names, and the uses of plants. The work was arranged according to the Linnaean system. Pennant contributed an account on Scottish fauna (Vol. I: p. 1-66), and Moses Griffith, a draughtsman, engraver and water colourist in Pennant's service, thirty-five of the drawings. Lightfoot consulted Sir Joseph Banks, Daniel Solander, Humphrey Sibthorp, among others, and acknowledged their help. Sir Robert Sibbald in his 'Scotia Illustrata' (1684) listed 500 Scottish species, mainly lowland plants; Lightfoot's Flora described 1250, including cryptogams and pioneered the scientific study of the plants and fungi of Scotland. (ODNB)

Henrey, 969.

Condition

2 vols, 8vo, cont. tree calf, rebacked preserving original spines, corners repaired, gilt rule to borders, gilt tooling to spines, new leather title pieces in matching antique style, marbled endpapers; some foxing/browning to a few pages in both vols; a few discreet contemporary ink annotations to text. An attractive set.