Old and Rare Books - Antiquariaat Junk

the union of sperm with egg, the mechanism of chromosomal inheritance, and the development
of the embryo by successive cell division. His hypothesis of pangenesis could
not therefore give a permanently acceptable account of the multitude of phenomena it
was designed to explain. It was, however, a point of departure for particulate theories of
inheritance in the latter nineteenth century" (DSB).
Freeman 877.
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[ 8] DESCOURTILZ, M.E. Flore
[Pittoresque et] Médicale des Antilles,
ou traité des plantes usuelles
des colonies Françaises, Anglaises,
Espagnoles et Portugaises...
Peinte par J.Th. Descourtilz. Paris,
Pichard, Mme Veuve Pichard,
Gauthier, Royal, 82 - 829. 8 volumes.
Royal-8vo (20 x 0mm).
With 600 fine colour-printed stipple
engraved plates with extensive
handfinishing. Contemporary
brown half calf, richly gilt spines
in compartments, sides marbled
boards.
€ . 00
A fine copy of the first edition. A beautifully
illustrated flora of the West Indies.
This is one of two major French works
published on this region. The other work
is by Tussac 'Flore des Antilles' 808- 828
and is equally rare. Descourtilz ( 77 - 8 6) was a French physician, naturalist and traveller.
"Following his marriage to the daughter of Rossignol-Desdunes, who had plantations
in Artibonite, he went to Saint-Domingue (Haiti) in 798, on the way visting Charleston,
South Carolina, and Santiago de Cuba. Descourtilz became involved in the Negro revolution
... Most of his original drawings and manuscripts, as well as his herbarium, were
burned in Haiti... (DSB). The present work is a great rarity and sets usually consist of
mixed issues (see for example the de Belder copy Soth. 27 april 987 no. 99 or the Cleveland
Herbal, Botanical... collection no. 926). The words 'pittoresque et' appear in the
title of the third volume. The fine plates of exotic flowers and fruit are after drawings by
the author's son J.Th. Descourtilz, who became a famous ornithologist. The plates were
engraved by Gabriel, Bessin, Péréee and Prieur.
Dunthorne 90, Great Flower Books p. ; Stafleu & Cowan 9 .
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