Gapar Xúarez (1 results)
More imagesPublished by Rome, Arcangelo Casalette, 1789. 1789
- Hardcover
- First Edition
Seller: Hünersdorff Rare Books ABA ILAB, London, United KingdomHünersdorff Rare Books ABA ILAB
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Add to basketHardcover. Condition: Good. No Jacket. 1st Edition. 4to. 64 pages of text. With printer's device (Romulus & Remus suckling a wolf) on title. 10 engraved plates by L. Maioli after C. & A. Maioli in contemporary hand-colouring. Ornamental woodcut head-piece on first text page. Contemporary quarter sheep, gilt; spine wormed; decora…tive boards. First issue of an annual review of exotic plants introduced into the Vatican gardens from Latin America, also from Africa, Asia, and the Orient. The present survey, for the year 1788, contains descriptions of ten plants including the Chinese Nettle, Tulip Tree, and Ground Nut, together with details of their successful cultivation in Rome. Among the plants described as flourishing, some originating, in pre- Columbian America are the Sweet Potato and Ground Nut (Mexico, Peru, Paraguay, and Brazil). Among the many medical applications discussed are the treatment of scurvy with papaya seeds, toothache using crushed laburnum leaves, and the use of ground nuts as an antidote for snake bites. Each description is accompanied by a hand-coloured illustration. A second and third part (each also treating 10 plants) was published for the years 1790 and 1792, none further were issued. Xúarez (1731-1804), the first Argentine botanist, was a Jesuit priest born in Tucuman, whom Palau cites as author of John Hill's 'Decade di alberi curiosi' (1786) of which he was only the translator. Both works on the subject of newly-discovered plants would seem to be part of the same project introducing foreign species to Italy; they are published in a similar format and the same artist (P. Maioli) has drawn the plates. Gili (1756-1821), the director of the Vatican Observatory, attracted the attention of the celebrated Spanish botanists Ruiz & Pavon for his collaboration on this work, & who named a plant after him. A small spot in inner blank margin of first quire, otherwise a fresh copy in its first binding. Nissen BB, p67; Palau 101886; Pritzel 3332.
