The Little Book of Botany; or, Familiar Exposition of Botanical Science, Simplified and Written Expressly for Young Botanists.

Cooper (Daniel)

Published by Darton and Clark, 1839

About this Item

FIRST EDITION, printed on blue paper, 6 etched plates and 7 wood-engravings to the text, pp xvii, 148, [2, adverts], 12mo, original ribbed cloth, lettered in gilt to upper board and backstrip, the latter decorated in gilt, blind-stamped border to both boards, a tiny amount of wear at corners, a.e.g., yellow endpapers, a little cracking to the front hinge (but entirely secure), the flyleaf with gift inscription: 'Miss Davidson, Decr, 1840, from her sincere friends the Misses Howson for general good conduct and obedience during the half year', very good. A charming little book. The issue on tinted paper was likely produced in a very limited run for presentation purposes; OCLC locates one other copy thus, at the British Library - one other work with a Darton imprint, 'The Chronology of the Kings of England' (1834), is known to have been printed on blue paper (others may exist, but unrecorded). 'Precocious' is the word most commonly used to describe the author, born in 1816, whose career as a naturalist began as a teenager and offered its first fruits with 'Flora Metropolitana' in 1836 - a guide to London's botanical rarities, advertised at the rear of this volume. Seeking through the present work to instil the same inquisitive wonder that has guided him in its composition, Cooper's study is sufficiently detailed to require a reader whose intelligence in such matters likewise exceeds their youth: its sections cover the constituent parts of the organism - skin, roots, stem, leaves, and, finally, the organs of fertilization. (Osborne, vol II, p. 822; Darton, H28; Freeman, British Natural History Books, 813).

Seller Inventory # 79074

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Little Book of Botany; or, Familiar Exposition of Botanical Science, Simplified and Written Expressly for Young Botanists.
• Publisher: Darton and Clark
• Publication Date: 1839
• Seller catalogs:
  • Sciences