"LINNAEUS SET OUT THE FIRST TRULY PRACTICAL SYSTEM OF BOTANICAL CLASSIFICATION"

(LINNAEUS, Charles) STOEVER, D.H. (TRAPP, Joseph, translator). The Life of Sir Charles Linnaeus. London: B. and J. White, 1794. Quarto, contemporary three-quarter tan polished calf gilt, black morocco spine labels, marbled boards. $950.

First English edition, large-paper copy, of this biography of the great natural historian, father of modern taxonomy, with frontispiece portrait.

"Linnaeus set out the first truly practical system of botanical classification, based upon the number and relative order of a plant's sexual organs. He also introduced a consistent system of binomial nomenclature (generic name coupled with a specific epithet) which he originally applied to plants. Linnaeus continued to revise and enlarge the Systema Naturae as he collected new data" (Norman 1359). "Linnaeus was not the first to invent the system… but he applied it universally" (PMM). Includes a list of Linnaeus' works and a biographical sketch of the life of his son. First published in German in Hamburg, 1792. Lowndes, 2521.

Occasional faint marginal foxing. Joints just starting, binding sound. An excellent large-paper copy in contemporary calf-gilt.