Elemens de botanique

First edition illustrated with 3 repeated engraved title-frontispieces representing the King's garden, 451 plates drawn by Aubriet (who would later accompany the author on his voyage to the Levant), and 5 text vignettes. Dedication to King Louis XIV.

Contemporary polished marbled beige calf, spines with raised bands decorated with the cipher of Louis XIV in 4 compartments ornamented with fleur-de-lys, stars and plants, red morocco titles and volume labels, volume labels decorated with fleur-de-lys and suns, royal arms stamped on covers (OHR n°2494, 10, still in use at the beginning of the reign of Louis XV), boards thrice framed in gilt, inner dentelle and on edges, speckled edges, skillful restorations to spine-ends, some minor abrasions, worming causing a loss to the gilt arms on the upper cover of vol. III, faded tooling on 4th compartment of vol. II.

A precious gift copy, bearing the royal arms of Louis XIV stamped on the covers and the sovereign's cipher on the spines, framed by fleur-de-lys at the corners. A reference work for plant classification for over a century.

Tournefort presents here a new system of plant classification which immediately met with tremendous success, advancing the concept of genus and giving new impetus to taxonomy: "The clear and precise writing of the work, as well as the quality of Claude Aubriet's illustrations, the future painter to the king, greatly contributed to the success of the classification. The botanist specifies in his foreword: "The method followed is based on the structure of flowers and fruits. One cannot deviate from it without falling into strange difficulties..." the two criteria, flower and fruit, allow him to establish genera, whereas he defines classes based on the flower criterion alone. This successful work was translated into Latin by Tournefort himself so that it could be read throughout Europe." (BnF). The second French edition was only published a century later.

A rare royal armorial copy of this work "which could only appear under His [the Sun King's] august name" (dedication, f. 2 verso).

Stafleu, 14.780.