8vo. One hand-colored folding plate. (Some browning and spotting throughout, lacking first leaf, presumably a blank.) Contemporary marbled boards (rebacked in modern calf, minor rubbing and wear to boards). Provenance: William Withering (1741-1799), English botanist, geologist, chemist, physician and first systematic investigator of the bioactivity of digitalis (signature on title and his underlinings and some annotations in ink). 

 

FIRST EDITION of this rare work on algae, mosses and ferns. FROM THE LIBRARY OF WILLIAM WITHERING. Although best known for his pioneer work on use of extracts of foxglove (Digitalis purpurea) to treat dropsy (edema), a condition associated with heart failure, Withering was also an avid enthusiast in the identification and classification of lichens, algae and mosses. He kept lichen among his herbarium, and enumerated 118 species in genus Lichen in his Botanical Arrangement of all the Vegetables Naturally Growing in Great Britain, published in 1776. Withering was meticulous, almost obsessional, in his observation and recording of plants. His work on the flowering plants was largely derived from others, but on the algae and agarics he broke new ground. AN IMPORTANT ASSOCIATION COPY.