Geschichte der Botanik vom 16. Jahrhundert bis 1860

Munich: R. Oldenbourg, 1875. FIRST EDITION. Printed in Gothic type, a few leaves unopened; an excellent copy in contemporary blue cloth with the original printed wrappers bound in. Several marginal annotations in pencil and blue ink, 7 separate handwritten pages of notes by 2 authors, H. [Jesis] (in German) and Ch[arles] Benham (in English). First edition. "This masterful presentation records all the fundamental elements upon which Sachs built his many theories" (DSB). He suggests that the origins of the scientific study of plants lay in the sixteenth century, illustrating how a few brilliant men (Bauhin, Bock, Brunfels, Caesalpino, Clusius, Dodoens, Fuchs, Linnaeus and Lobelius, to name a few), not even called botanists, began increasingly to realize the ways that plants are related to each other. He avoids the pitfalls of drab historical description, deftly detailing his own scientific contributions and theoretical concepts.