Union Catalogue
Title details
Corporate author:
Main entry uniform title:
Uniform title:
Title:
English botany, or, Coloured figures of British plants, with their essential characters, synonyms, and places of growth :
to which will be added, occasional remarks /
by James Sowerby.
Soulsby no.:
Soulsby no. 4894.
Edition details
Publisher:
Printed for the author, by J. Davis
Place of publication:
London
Publishing year:
1790-1814
Edition:
Physical description:
36 v. :
col. ill. ;
24 cm.
Series entry:
Language(s):
English
Notes
General notes:
Includes 2592 handcolored engraved leaves of plates.
Includes indexes.
Includes indexes.
Contents notes:
Provenance:
Montague, Gilbert
Senff, Charles H., 1841-1911.
Title history:
Language notes:
With note:
Dissertation notes:
Subject:
Plants
Great Britain.
Plants Great Britain Pictorial works.
Plants Great Britain Pictorial works.
Additional author(s):
Smith, James Edward,
1759-1828.
1759-1828.
Additional corporate author(s):
Additional title(s):
OPAC identifier:
ocm10092919
Collective uniform title:
Summary notes:
Other notes:
Starting with v. 4 (and also v. 2 in copy 2) the t.p. reads: English botany, or, Coloured figures of British plants, with their essential characters, synonyms, and places of growth : to which will be added, occasional remarks / by James Edward Smith ; the figures by James Sowerby. In copy 3 the contents are bound, in the order provided in the index, in 20 vols. including the general indexes in v. 1.
Title details
Corporate author:
Main entry uniform title:
Uniform title:
Title:
English botany :
or, coloured figures of British plants, with their essential characters, synonyms, and places of growth: to which will be added, occasional remarks
Soulsby no.:
Post-Soulsby no. 4894
Edition details
Publisher:
Printed for the author, by J. Davis
Place of publication:
London
Publishing year:
1790-1814
Edition:
Physical description:
36 v. :
ill., colour plates, index,
25 cm
Series entry:
Language(s):
English
Notes
General notes:
Each volume consists of a title-page, three indexes, and 72 leaves of coloured plates (2592 in all), each accompanied by a leaf of text.
Contents notes:
Provenance:
Printed book label on front pastedown: The Adderley Library Marlborough Coll. founded 1843.
Title history:
Language notes:
With note:
Dissertation notes:
Subject:
Floras
108306
British Isles 3493
England 3507
British Isles 3493
England 3507
Additional author(s):
Sir,
Smith, James Edward,
1759-1828
Smith, James Edward,
1759-1828
Additional corporate author(s):
Additional title(s):
OPAC identifier:
u58631
Collective uniform title:
Summary notes:
Other notes:
StEdRBGE
Binding: Half leather with marbled paper over the boards, five raised bands and two title pieces.
Title details
Corporate author:
Main entry uniform title:
Uniform title:
Title:
English botany :
or, coloured figures of British plants, with their essential characters, synonyms, and places of growth. To which will be added, occasional remarks /
By James Sowerby, F.L.S.
Soulsby no.:
Post-Soulsby no. 4894
Edition details
Publisher:
Printed for the author
Place of publication:
London
Publishing year:
1790 (-1814).
Edition:
1st edition.
Physical description:
36 vols. ;
23 cm.
Series entry:
Language(s):
English
Notes
General notes:
Plates 402 and 403 have, in the London copy, two leaves of text each, replacement pages of letterpress having been issued to correct a mistake. The original text for plate 402 described Arundo epigejos, which was "really represented in t. 403"; the revised text for 402 identified the plant as Phalaris arundinacea. The original text for plate 403 described Arundo calamagrostis, and this was replaced by a text for Arundo epigejos. Smith attributed the error to "Linnaeus having misquoted Scheuchzer under this and the Calamagrostis, [causing] them to be misunderstood". - On some text pages Smith added notes correcting the nomenclature of previous descriptions (these corrections are included in the attached plate lists). In one case this process involves the addition of an extra leaf: a note on the text for plate 2558 corrects the name for plate 480 from Myosotis scorpioides to Myosotis versicolor, and an intercalated leaf following corrects the name for plate 2558 from Myosotis arvensis to Myosotis collina.
Smith acknowledged that the selection of plants for illustration, in the early volumes at least, was in part determined by whether they had been published in Curtis's Flora Londinensis; in an effort to appeal to purchasers who might already have that work, emphasis was initially given to plants not included in it. Possibly as a result, more cryptogamic plants (including algae) are illustrated in this work than in any other illustrated English flora. It does not, however, include fungi, presumably because Sowerby was publishing his Coloured figures of fungi from 1797. - No single fascicule was devoted entirely to cryptogams, however, presumably for market considerations.
Harlow Carr set: Volumes 1-7 and 12-15 only held.
With the exception of the text for plates 16-18, which was written by George Shaw, the text was written in its entirety by James Edward Smith, though his name appears for the first time on the title-page of vol. 4.
Spine title: Sowerby's English Botany.
The first seven volumes state that the work was printed for the author, or for the proprietor. From volume 8, the proprietor is identified as James Sowerby. A variety of bookseller/publishers is named. Volumes 4 and 6 in this copy have revised title-pages from the first decade of the nineteenth century, and probably represent groupings of plates supplied in arrears to fill gaps in a set, with the title-pages bearing the names of the booksellers and printers dealing with publication at that time. - Full imprint statements for all volumes will be found in the attached document.
The plates are signed with the month of publication. At first three plates were signed per month, starting with November 1790; from October 1790 the number is more usually six. In later years the number increased to twelve, though the division of volumes frequently cuts halfway through a month's signatures. Sometimes plates issued in January are dated with the previous year.
Smith acknowledged that the selection of plants for illustration, in the early volumes at least, was in part determined by whether they had been published in Curtis's Flora Londinensis; in an effort to appeal to purchasers who might already have that work, emphasis was initially given to plants not included in it. Possibly as a result, more cryptogamic plants (including algae) are illustrated in this work than in any other illustrated English flora. It does not, however, include fungi, presumably because Sowerby was publishing his Coloured figures of fungi from 1797. - No single fascicule was devoted entirely to cryptogams, however, presumably for market considerations.
Harlow Carr set: Volumes 1-7 and 12-15 only held.
With the exception of the text for plates 16-18, which was written by George Shaw, the text was written in its entirety by James Edward Smith, though his name appears for the first time on the title-page of vol. 4.
Spine title: Sowerby's English Botany.
The first seven volumes state that the work was printed for the author, or for the proprietor. From volume 8, the proprietor is identified as James Sowerby. A variety of bookseller/publishers is named. Volumes 4 and 6 in this copy have revised title-pages from the first decade of the nineteenth century, and probably represent groupings of plates supplied in arrears to fill gaps in a set, with the title-pages bearing the names of the booksellers and printers dealing with publication at that time. - Full imprint statements for all volumes will be found in the attached document.
The plates are signed with the month of publication. At first three plates were signed per month, starting with November 1790; from October 1790 the number is more usually six. In later years the number increased to twelve, though the division of volumes frequently cuts halfway through a month's signatures. Sometimes plates issued in January are dated with the previous year.
Contents notes:
Each volume has a title-page, three indexes, and 72 leaves of coloured plates (2592 in all), each accompanied by a leaf of text. There are prefaces by J.E. Smith in vols. 4 and 7. In vol. 36 of the London set is bound a complete set of the general indexes for the 36 volumes: Latin names, English names, and systematical index, together with the "Index to English fungi, including five numbers of supplement".
Provenance:
London copy: Reginald Cory bequest, 1936. Bought by Cory from Sothebys, February 1925, for £28 as noted in pencil inscription on front free endpaper verso of vol. I. - Title-page of vol. I bears ink inscription: "Ex Bibliotheca B. C. Du Mortier 7.10.24.". Pencilled annotation on text for plate 605.
Harlow Carr set: Engraved bookplate of John Waterhouse, Halifax affixed to front pastedowns.
Title history:
Language notes:
With note:
Dissertation notes:
Subject:
Flora
Algae
Mosses
Lichens
18th century.
19th century.
Classification system: Linnaeus.
Great Britain.
England
Algae
Mosses
Lichens
18th century.
19th century.
Classification system: Linnaeus.
Great Britain.
England
Additional author(s):
Smith, George
(1751-1813).
Shaw, George
(1751-1813).
Cory, Reginald Radcliffe
(1871-1934)
Du Mortier, Barthélemy Charles Joseph
(1797-1878)
(1751-1813).
Shaw, George
(1751-1813).
Cory, Reginald Radcliffe
(1871-1934)
Du Mortier, Barthélemy Charles Joseph
(1797-1878)
Additional corporate author(s):
Arding and Merrett (London, England)
Jonas Davis (London, England)
Richard Taylor (London, England)
Wilks and Taylor (London, England)
Charles Dilly (London, England)
Joseph Johnson (London, England)
Benjamin White (London, England)
Sherwood, Neely and Jones (London, England)
Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown and Green (London, England)
Henry Delahoy Symonds (London, England)
Jonas Davis (London, England)
Richard Taylor (London, England)
Wilks and Taylor (London, England)
Charles Dilly (London, England)
Joseph Johnson (London, England)
Benjamin White (London, England)
Sherwood, Neely and Jones (London, England)
Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown and Green (London, England)
Henry Delahoy Symonds (London, England)
Additional title(s):
OPAC identifier:
Collective uniform title:
Summary notes:
Other notes:
London copy. Bound in half green sheep with green pebble-grain cloth over boards. Blind double fillets at leather edges. Spines with five raised bands flanked by gilt double fillets; gilt spine titles: SOWERBY'S / ENGLISH / BOTANY // VOL. / I [&c]. Top-edges gilt. Endpapers marbled in red peacock pattern.
Wisley copy. Bound in half tan calf with blue-green cloth over boards. Blind double fillets at leather edges. Rounded spines divided into panels by gilt dotted rolls. Double lettering-pieces in red and green morocco with gilt dotted rolls and titles: ENGLISH / BOTANY // 1. 2. / 1-144 [&c, each volume bearing two volume numbers and the quantity of plates within]. Red speckled edges; top-edges stained.
London copy: plates 1602 and 2348, and the text for plate 1253, have been bound facing the wrong way. The text leaf for plate 1984 is folded at the base, as the text runs longer than on other leaves. - On the text for plate 2473, the epithet "ferrugineum" has been pasted over the original "aeruginosum".
Wisley copy. Bound in half tan calf with blue-green cloth over boards. Blind double fillets at leather edges. Rounded spines divided into panels by gilt dotted rolls. Double lettering-pieces in red and green morocco with gilt dotted rolls and titles: ENGLISH / BOTANY // 1. 2. / 1-144 [&c, each volume bearing two volume numbers and the quantity of plates within]. Red speckled edges; top-edges stained.
London copy: plates 1602 and 2348, and the text for plate 1253, have been bound facing the wrong way. The text leaf for plate 1984 is folded at the base, as the text runs longer than on other leaves. - On the text for plate 2473, the epithet "ferrugineum" has been pasted over the original "aeruginosum".