The Natural History of Plants: their forms growth, reproduction and distribution. Half-Volume I-IV

Description:

Translated from the German and edited by Prof. F.W. Oliver, University College London, assisted by Marian Busk and Mary F. Ewart. (The German edition Pflanzenleben was first published 1887-1891). Originally issued in 16 monthly parts, the finished work was also sold in either two volumes, or four 'half-volumes'. A two-page adverisement for the work is bound in at the front of the first volume.

Anton Joseph Kerner (1831-1898) was an Austrian botanist and Professor at the University of Vienna. Kerner used a number of Austrian and German artists for his monumental work, and their work was reproduced as wood engravings and fine chromolithographic plates. The latter were printed (by Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig) from originals by Ernst Heyn and J. Selleny. Ernst Friedrich Heyn (1841-1894) was a German artist who specialized in landscapes. However, he later received much acclaim for his superb botanical drawings. Joseph Selleny was an Austrian landscape painter.

Stafleu & Cowan, 3600.

Condition

4 vols, imp. 8vo, orig. cloth, a few slight marks, rear board of one volume mottled; some wear to spine ends and joints; hinges cracked, one rear hinge a little slack; two front inner hinges partly broken. Small stain to top corner of a few plates, not affecting the printed image. From the library of Michael Bryant, Hampshire ornithologist, with his bookplates.