first edition Hardcover
1817 - 1820 · Boston
by BIGELOW, Jacob
Boston: R. Bowyer, 1817 - 1820. First Edition. Hardcover. Scattered toning, some offsetting and mild foxing, wormhole to upper margin at the front few pages of the first volume; small library blind-stamps to titles and to all plates; mild rubbing and repairs to the binding. Very Good. Three octavo (6-5/8" x 9-7/8") volumes bound in 19th century black half-morocco leather with matching corners and marbled boards. Illustrated with 60 engraved color plates, the first 10 hand-colored and the others color-printed. FIRST EDITION OF THE FIRST AMERICAN BOTANICAL BOOK as well as the first book with color-printed plates produced in America. Bigelow received his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania and was professor of medicine and botany at Harvard College. (Inventory #: 017842)