2nd Dec, 2020 10:00

Books & Works on Paper | Live Online

 
  Lot 317
 

Botany.- Alpinus (Prospero)

Botany.- Alpinus (Prospero)

De plantis Aegypti liber, 2 parts in one, includes ‘De balsamo dialogus’ with separate titles, FIRST EDITION, errata at end, woodcut printer’s device on title, 50, mostly full page, botanical illustrations throughout, tear to blank margin tear of E1, tiny wormtrail to gatherings L-O, light browning, occasional spotting, [Adams 803; Nissen BBI, 20; Pritzel, 443, not in Stafleu & Cowan], 4to, Francesco de Franceschi, Venice, 1592.

*** Important work on the flora of Egypt, based upon specimens that Alpini personally examined, either cultivated in gardens or growing wild. Among the plants previously undescribed, were the coffee brush (Coffe Arabica L.), banana (Musa sp.) and baobab (Adansonia digitata L.). The second part is an account of the source of balsam (Commiphora) which was first printed in 1591. The author, Prospero Alpini (1553–1617), was an Italian physician and botanist from the Republic of Venice. He travelled around Egypt and served as the fourth prefect in charge of the botanical garden of Padua. He wrote several botanical treatises which covered exotic plants of economic and medicinal value.


 

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