Histoire de la botanique genevoise...

Geneva; Paris: J. Barbezat, 1830. FIRST EDITION. Title with engraved vignette. Complete with mounted errata slip. Contemporary blue marbled wrappers, frayed and chipped around the edges; interior with scattered foxing. An uncut copy from the library of Arnold Carl Klebs (1870-1943), the eminent Swiss scholar and collector, with his small stamp on the final printed leaf. First edition of Candolle's inspiring speech, given to the graduating class of the University of Geneva. Candolle aims to instill a sense of pride in his young listeners by tracing a history of botany, especially in Geneva. He lauds the research and developments of his predecessors as well as his colleagues, reminding the students that they are part of an important scientific legacy (in which he himself so prominently figures). An amazingly detailed account, this work is also valuable for Candolle's bibliographical notes.

Candolle (1778-1841), father of Alphonse Candolle, was a professor of Botany at the Universities of Montpellier and Geneva. His famous Théorie Élémentaire de la botanique in which he expounds his theory of classification is now considered the foundation of modern morphology, and is still in use today.