English Botany, Or Coloured Figures of British Plants [Sowerby’s English Botany, Volume VIII, Chenopodiaceae to Coniferae]

Volume Eight of the Third Edition of Sowerby’s English Botany. 296pp, plus 206 hand-coloured copper-engraved lithographs (plates mclxxviii to mccclxxxiv). 4to. . Half-bound in leather over silk moire with gilt rules and lettering (boards strong and robust but worn along edges and spine joints, rubbed through on corners). The first 16 leaves are detached, as are pages 285-288, and binding fragile. Some minor indentations on page edges, else internally clean and bright. The botanical prints in particular remain fresh and bright. A good candidate for some restoration. English Botany was a major publication of British plants comprising a 36 volume set, issued in 267 monthly parts over 23 years from 1790 to 1814. The work was conceived, illustrated, edited and published by the botanical illustrator and natural historian, James Sowerby. The complete First Edition (1790-1814) comprises 2,592 hand-coloured, finely detailed, copper-plate engravings and is now rare. The third edition, with some additional plates, saw the introduction of a ‘popular section’ but the plates were taken from the same copper plates used for the first edition which, had by this time, deteriorated. . Reasonable offers welcome.