Elements of Botany: or Outlines of the Natural History of Vegetables. Illustrated by Forty Plates.

Barton, Benjamin Smith

Condition: Used - Very good Hardcover

Save for Later

Sold by Trillium Antiquarian Books, Peterborough, ON, Canada

Association Member:

IOBA

AbeBooks Seller since 12 September 2001

Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars

View this seller's items

View all copies of this book

Used - Hardcover

Condition: Used - Very good

Price:

� 697.53

� 18.81 shipping
Ships from Canada to U.S.A.

Quantity: 1 available

Add to basket

Save for Later

About this Item

Philadelphia: Robert Desilver, 1827. Third edition, complete, corrected and greatly enlarged, in two volumes (xii, 324, plates, Index; iv, 180, Appendix (1-16), Expanation of Plates (1- 41), plates, Index). Forty engraved plates, some folding. Octavo in full leather, gilt decoration and titles to spines. Covers with a stain or two, worn at the extremities, hinges on volume two cracked but holding; previous owners name and bookplates, endpapers foxed; frontis to volume one offset onto title page, several plates bound at rear moderately offset; moisture tideline through a few pages front and rear of volume two; several pages of preface to the second edition misbound into text of first preface; text generally clean and sound throughout. A later, expanded edition of Barton s botany, the first produced in North America and a model for later botanical works. It was this botany (although not this edition) Lewis and Clark took on their explorations into the American west. Benjamin Smith Barton, M.D., (1766-1815) was professor variously of materia medica, natural history, and botany at the University of Pennsylvania and a member of the Linnaeen Society, the American Philosophical Society, and the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, among others. Barton s principal work is Elements of Botany (1804), a later edition of which we offer here, the first botany text published in the U.S. His wide ranging interests in natural history led him to publish a number of monographs and studies, e.g., The Fascinating Quality Ascribed to the Rattlesnake (1796) and New Views of the Origins of Tribes in the United States (1797). Barton acted as advisor on botanical collections to Lewis and Clark and was acquainted with Thomas Jefferson and William Bartram. His nephew William P.C. Barton (1786- 1856) was the author of the important A Flora of North America (1821-1823), for which see our book number 442. Benjamin Smith Barton s Fragments of the Natural History of Pennsylvania (1799) was intended to illustrate. the Natural History of a Country extremely interesting to philosophers and hitherto very imperfectly explored. These fragments, not quite twenty-five pages of field observations, together with introductory speculations about such matters as the range of the Carolina Parrot and the conformity between the vegetation of some plants and the arrival of certain birds of passage suggest a systematic natural history based on local observation, rather like the Christmas bird count. On the other hand, certain passages in Fragments preserve a reliance on classical authority so that natural history is conducted as a literary, historical study of the texts of ancient received opinion, as in this curious note on the origins of bees and the procurement of honey: It appears to have been a very general opinion among the ancients, that bees were produced from the putrid bodies of animals. The Greeks believed, that these animals arose from putrid bullocks. So rude were the opinions of the ancients respecting the origin of these insects. It is certain, however, that [according to accounts in the Old Testament and in Virgil s Georgics] putrid carcases are often visited by bees, and it is not unlikely that from these carcases, they may be able to procure honey (xi). See our book number 767 for more. Quite a decent copy of an important and surprisingly scarce book.

Seller Inventory # 1083

Contact seller

Report this item

Bibliographic Details

Title: Elements of Botany: or Outlines of the Natural History of Vegetables. Illustrated by Forty Plates.
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: Very Good

Store Description

TRILLIUM ANTIQUARIAN BOOKS OUR COLLECTIONS Trillium's Catalogue of Antiquarian Books comprises several collections-- Country Life, Natural History, Canadiana, Literature, Images, and Curiosities. The Trillium Antiquarian Catalogue always will be of a modest size, but I hope it always will be worthy of your interest. You can explore our collections when you visit our web site at www.trilliumbooks.ca. COUNTRY LIFE One way or another, these antiquarian books address the need 'to be versed in country things'. You will find, for example, English farming books from the 18th century, books for anglers, whether by fly or worm, dating almost back to Walton, gardening and horticulture books, studies of apiculture and classic landscape design. Almost any part of the world will do, so long as there are flowers or fish or bees. Because I am someone who has tried his hand at farming, you may find a special antiquarian book on barns or cattle raising or you may find early seed catalogues or herbals with cures and potions which sometimes worked. ANTIQUARIAN NATURAL HISTORY Almost any part of the world will do, too, when it comes to early studies of Natural History. My earliest interest is ornithology, birds and bird books, and so, while you are unlikely to find an elephant folio Audubon in the collection, Alexander Wilson's bird books likely will be on offer or Bewick's or Morris's. Look for early geographies and look for botanical studies of native North American and European plants published on either side of the eighteenth- nineteenth century divide. I do not shrink from some Latin here. Much of our early scientific, as distinct from mythic, zoology (botany, too) originated with the observations of travelers and explorers (that, after all, is where Darwin came in), and therefore you will find journals and memoirs of those who journeyed in the name of science or merely out of curiosity to the Arctic, the Yucatan, or the outskirts of Philadelphia. CANADIANA COLLECTION Our Canadiana collection cuts across all the other categories and some others to boot. It certainly includes interesting editions of the work of early settlers in this part of English Canada-- the Strickland sisters, Susannah Moodie and Catharine Parr Traill, and later arrivals such as Robertson Davies; but you will find as well works on the Canadian arctic and the commentaries of British visitors or wandering Americans, together perhaps with the only Golden Cockerel publication of a Canadian title. LITERATURE COLLECTION Our Literature Collection casts a wide net and catches sermons, novels, essays, poems, letters, and satiric sketches. You may find a 17th century translation of The Consolation of Philosophy or a copy of The Catcher in the Rye in just the right dust wrapper. As someone who started out as a middle American and not an Upper Canadian, I am always on the lookout for an early Mark Twain or something unusual by the other kid from Newark, Stephen Crane. ANTIQUE IMAGES, ILLUSTRATED BOOKS, MAPS If you examine under magnification a Bewick wood-engraving (even a tail-piece at a chapter end), you will begin to understand something about the relation of image and text. Sometimes the images collected here still reside with their texts, as in the illustrated books you will find here, but sometimes they have been separated (courtesy of the book-breaker or simple entropy) and are offered in this collection as separate maps, lithographs, wood-engravings, or wood-cuts of interest in their own right. A COLLECTION OF CURIOSITIES I find an illustrated technical monograph on cockroaches or a treatise on water dowsing by a German count hard to resist and therefore have decided not to. Look for intriguing oddities such as these in this collection-- a commercial fisher would call them the by-catch and pitch them into the sea from whence they came, but these are too good to throw back. BOOK

Visit Seller's Storefront

Association Member

Members of these associations are committed to maintaining the highest standards. They vouch for the authenticity of all items offered for sale. They provide expert and detailed descriptions, disclose all significant defects and/or restorations, provide clear and accurate pricing, and operate with fairness and honesty during the purchase experience.

Seller's business information

Trillium Antiquarian Books
ON, Canada

Sale & Shipping Terms

Terms of Sale

Unconditionally guaranteed and may be returned for full refund within 15 days of receipt. Payment can be made by cash, cheque, or money order. Payment by credit card can be made using Paypal (www.paypal.com). We will hold orders for 15 days in anticipation of payment unless otherwise arranged. Shipping and insurance are billed separately. TRILLIUM ANTIQUARIAN BOOKS is owned by William Van Nest, 1285 Albertus Avenue, Peterborough, ON, Canada K9J 6A4. Telephone +17057490461 Email trilliumbooks@sym...

More Information

Right of withdrawal

If you are a consumer you can withdraw from the contract in accordance with the following. Consumer means any natural person who is acting for purposes which are outside his trade, business, craft or profession.

Information regarding the right of withdrawal

Statutory right to withdraw

You have the right to withdraw from this contract within 14 days without giving any reason.

The withdrawal period will expire after 14 days from the day on which you acquire, or a third party other than the carrier and indicated by you acquires, physical possession of the last good or the last lot or piece.

To exercise the right of withdrawal, electronically fill in and submit a clear statement on our website, under "My Purchases" in "My Account". We will communicate to you an acknowledgement of receipt of such a withdrawal on a durable medium (e.g. by e-mail) without delay.

To meet the withdrawal deadline, it is sufficient for you to send your communication concerning your exercise of the right of withdrawal before the withdrawal period has expired.

Effects of withdrawal

If you withdraw from this contract, we will reimburse to you all payments received from you, including the costs of delivery (except for the supplementary costs arising if you chose a type of delivery other than the least expensive type of standard delivery offered by us).

We may make a deduction from the reimbursement for loss in value of any goods supplied, if the loss is the result of unnecessary handling by you.

We will make the reimbursement without undue delay, and not later than 14 days after the day on which we are informed about your decision to withdraw from this contract.

We will make the reimbursement using the same means of payment as you used for the initial transaction, unless you have expressly agreed otherwise; in any event, you will not incur any fees as a result of such reimbursement.

We may withhold reimbursement until we have received the goods back, or you have supplied evidence of having sent back the goods, whichever is the earliest.

You shall send back the goods or hand them over to Trillium Antiquarian Books, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada, +1 705-749-0461, without undue delay and in any event not later than 14 days from the day on which you communicate your withdrawal from this contract to us. The deadline is met if you send back the goods before the period of 14 days has expired. You will have to bear the direct cost of returning the goods. You are only liable for any diminished value of the goods resulting from the handling other than what is necessary to establish the nature, characteristics and functioning of the goods.

Exceptions to the right of withdrawal

The right of withdrawal does not apply to:

The delivery of newspapers, journals or magazines with the exception of subscription contracts; and
The supply of digital content which is not supplied on a tangible medium (e.g. on a CD or DVD) if you accepted when you placed your order that we could start to deliver it, and that you could not withdraw once delivery had started.

Shipping Terms

Unless otherwise requested, we ship worldwide by least expensive Canada Post service. We use clean re-cycled materials whenever possible.

Shipping rates from Canada to U.S.A.

Shipping rates from Canada to U.S.A.
Order quantity	7 to 14 business days	4 to 6 business days
First item	� 18.81	� 26.34

Delivery times are set by sellers and vary by carrier and location. Orders passing through Customs may face delays and buyers are responsible for any associated duties or fees. Sellers may contact you regarding additional charges to cover any increased costs to ship your items.

Payment Methods

Check Money Order Cash PayPal Invoice Bank Draft Bank/Wire Transfer

Add to Wants