Philosophia Botanica in qua explicantur fundamenta botanica cum definitionibus partium, exemplis terminorum, observationibus rariorum, adjectis figuris aeneis de LINNAEUS, Carl - 1751

Stockholm: Godofr. Kiesewetter, 1751. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. 1st Edition. Hardcover. 8vo (201 x 121 mm). [6], 362 pp. Engraved frontispiece portrait of the author engraved by I. M. Bernigeroth, 9 engraved plates, and 2 woodcuts in text. Contemporary half calf with gilt lettering piece to spine (boards and extremities rubbed). Internally little browned throughout, endpapers, title and preliminaries brown-burned in outer corners from tanned leather turn-ins, otherwise a fine, virtually unspotted and unmarked copy. Rare with the engraved frontispiece portrait. ---- Sparrow; Milestones of Science 135; Soulsby 437; Hulth 72; D.S.B. VIII, p.376. First edition. "Continuing his study on the classification of plants, Linnaeus published Philosophica botanica in 1751. In this he attempted to organize a natural system based on structure, but this work was never completed" (Sparrow). "In 1751 he published Philosophies botanica, his most influential work but actually only an expanded version of Fundamenta botanica. In it Linnaeus dealt with the theory of botany, the laws and rules that the botanist must follow in order to describe and name the plants correctly and to combine them into higher systematic categories." (DSB) The plates have also been used in "Hortus Cliffortianus".The engraved portrait, which was supplied to only a few copies, is present in this copy.