The British herbal: an history of plants and trees, natives of Britain, cultivated for use, or raised for beauty.

Folio: [4]-533-[3] pp.; 75 pl. (some ms. annotations in ink).

Contemp. calf, double gilt fillet on covers, spine with 6 raised bands, red edges (joints cracked and split, corners rubbed and bumped). Good copy.

First edition of this impressive British herbal by the English composer, actor and botanist J. Hill (1716-1775). Illustrated with an engr. allegorical front. "The Genius of Health receiving the tributes of Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, and delivering them to the British Reader" by H. Roberts after S. Wade, an engr. title vign. "Asculapius and Flora gathering from the Lap of Nature" by C. Grignion after Wade and 75 engr. pl. by Boyce, Darly and Edwards, Benning, and others showing over 1500 plant illustrations. The work was originally issued in 52 parts between January 1756 and January 1757 and appears here in its first book-form edition. Hill was a colourful and polemical figure of the 18th c. Despite his failed acting career, many academic disputes, and being vain and quarrelsome, he displayed great scientific ability and was one of the first to introduce the Linnaean system of nomenclature to Great Britain. Title in red & black. Printed in 2 col.
Ref. Nissen (BBI) 881. - Pritzel 4063. - Stafleu & Cowan 2769. - ESTC T29713.
Prov. Edward Frewen (armorial bookpl. and ms. ownership entry). - Ella Fuller Maitland, British writer and poet, 1857-1939 (ms. ownership entry).