Hortus Cliffortianus

Amsterdam: No Publisher, 1737.
First Edition.

45.5cm x 27cm. [32], v-x, i-iv, 1-231, 301-501, [17] pages, engraved frontispiece and 36 engraved plates. Modern full leather, gilt lettering and compartments to spine, uncut edges. Text is in Latin.

Linnaeus’ catalogue of the living plants and herbarium of George Clifford III at Hartekamp, near Haarlem, arranged according to the new system of classification Linnaeus introduced in ‘Systema Naturae’ (1735). A precursor to ‘Species Plantarum’ (1753), it is one of the foundational texts of modern systematic botany. Produced at Clifford’s expense, it is the most lavish of Linnaeus’ works, containing an allegorical frontispiece by Jan Wandelaar and 36 botanical plates, 20 after drawings by Georg Dionysius Ehret.

An uncut copy, the margins noticeably wider than most recorded copies. Pagination jumps from 231 to 301 without loss of text, as issued; preliminary pp. i-iv and v-x bound in reverse order, as in some other recorded copies. A few light stains to the edges of some preliminary and index leaves; occasional minor foxing and soiling; some tanning to plate XXX. Very Good Condition.

AU$15,000