A Flora of California, Part IV

San Francisco: H.S. Crocker Co. and Cunningham, Curtiss & Welch (printed by Taylor, Nash & Taylor), 1914. First Edition. Softcover. Very good. Quarto size, [94] pp., inscribed by the author, Willis Linn Jepson. Willis Linn Jepson (1867-1946) is known as California's most distinguished early botanist, being identified with the University of California, Berkeley, for most of his long career as an instructor in Botany. He was 25 years old in 1892, when he, John Muir and Warren Olney, at an attorney's office in San Francisco, formed the Sierra Club. This volume is Part IV only (pp. 369 to 464 and figures 66-91) of "A Flora of California", and is inscribed on the front wrap "To Miss Rowena Beans / With the compliments of / the author". Miss Beans was one of the many who assisted Mr. Jepson by reporting locations in which certain plants covered in this guide were found; she is mentioned on page 414, under item 27., E. dasyanthemum, which is a species of wild buckwheat known by the common name chaparral buckwheat. After the plant's description, the locations for this plant are given: "Vaca Mts., Jepson; Knoxville grade, Jepson; Guinda, Rowena Beans..." (Guinda is located in Yolo County, in the northern part of California).

Printed while the inimitable John Henry Nash was still with the firm of Taylor, Nash & Taylor, with their imprint on the back wrap.

___DESCRIPTION: Stapled binding to the text block in tan wraps (which were glued on) with black lettering on front and rear wraps, index to contents on the front wrap, verso of front wrap sets forth Parts 1 through 4 with their associated prices, with the notation that "other parts will follow in due course" and a caution that since each part covers certain pages, customers should not be "under the misapprehension that pages are missing from parts"; following the listing of parts is a short list of abbreviations used, followed by a publisher's ad for other "Books by Professor Jenson", fore- and bottom edges uncut, text pages begin with p. 369 (as promised in the index of contents) and continue through p. 464, the entry with the mention of Miss Bean on p. 414, black and white figure drawings scattered throughout the text, one or two signatures unopened, rear wrap shows the printer to be Taylor, Nash and Taylor; quarto size (10.5" by 7"), [94] pp., inscribed by Willis Linn Jepson ("the author") at the top of the front wrap in black ink.

___CONDITION: Very good to near fine, with clean wraps, a strong, square text block with the stapled binding solid (although the staples are beginning to show some rust), the interior is clean and bright, and entirely free of prior owner markings; overall edgewear to the wraps including slight loss at the tail of the spine, the top front corner creased as are the following eight or ten pages, as the book was issued with the signtures uncut they are also showing some edgewear, none of which impacts the text.

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