The Botanic Garden; A Poem in Two Parts. Part I, containing The Economy of Vegetation. Part II - The Loves of the Plants de Darwin, Erasmus - 1791

St Paul's Churchyard, London: J. Johnson, 1791. Two volumes bound in one. [Volume 1 - Second edition, 1791. Volume 2 - Third edition, 1791. Blanche Henrey 470 ?]. Illustrated with two engraved allegorical frontispieces, 18 engraved plates (one of them folding and two hand-coloured), quarto, pp xii, 214, 126, (ii(; x, 197, both frontispieces and title pages browned and with some offsetting from plate to title, the plates of the Portland Vase and the Fertilisation of Egypt similar, (this last plate by Blake after Fuseli); the remaining botanical plates clean, lacking the corner of page 171/2, a releveant pencilled note at the base of one page, a few pages with foxing but otherwise very clean and sound internally, with the armorial bookplate of the Dowdeswell family, Pull Court Worcestershire on the front endpaper together with a shelf label and a small newspaper clipping; the hand-colouring on the two plates is particularly attractive, and there is also an extra engraved plate fixed to the verso of the first titlepage - a portrait of Darwin engraved by Haughton after Rawlinson - this has caused a little waving of the paper; contemporary full calf, a little rubbed and scuffed, rebacked, the old spine laid down and with some wrinkling. Still a good sound copy. [The first poem, The Economy of Vegetation, celebrates technological innovation, scientific discovery and offers theories concerning contemporary scientific questions, such as the history of the cosmos. The more popular Loves of the Plants promotes, revises and illustrates Linnaeus's classification scheme for plants. One of the first popular science books, the intent of The Botanic Garden is to pique readers' interest in science while educating them at the same time. By embracing Linnaeus's sexualized language, which anthropomorphizes plants, Darwin intended to make botany interesting and relevant to the readers of his time. Darwin emphasizes the connections between humanity and plants, arguing that they are all part of the same natural world and that sexual reproduction is at the heart of evolution (ideas that his grandson, Charles Darwin, would later turn into a full-fledged theory of evolution). This evolutionary theme continues in The Economy of Vegetation which contends that scientific progress is part of evolution and urges its readers to celebrate inventors and scientific discoveries in a language usually reserved for heroes or artistic geniuses. Darwin's attempt to popularize science and to convey the wonders of scientific discovery and technological innovation through poetry helped initiate a tradition of popular science writing that continues to the present day.]. Full Leather. Good.