Rousseau / Martyn - Letters on the Elements of Botany / Thirty-Eight Plates - 1787-1788

An alluring botanical work from the Age of Enlightenment that combines Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s famous introduction to botany with 38 beautifully antiquely colored copper engravings by Frederick Polydore Nodder. The illustrations first appeared in 1788 and elucidate Carl von Linné’s botanical classification system through detailed depictions of flowers, stamens, pistils, and other plant characteristics.

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques / Martyn, Thomas. Letters on the Elements of Botany, Addressed to a Lady. Translated into English, with Notes, and Twenty-Four Additional Letters, Fully Explaining the System of Linnaeus. London, B. White and Son, 1787. Second edition, with corrections and improvements. XXV, 500 pages, followed by index.

Accompanied by: Martyn, Thomas. Thirty-Eight Plates, with Explanations; Intended to Illustrate Linnaeus's System of Vegetables, and Particularly Adapted to the Letters on the Elements of Botany. London, B. White and Son, 1788. First edition. VI, 72 pages. With 38 antiquely colored copperplates as well as a folded overview of the Linnaean plant system.

Two works in one volume. Contemporary half-leather binding with gold-embossed spine label and marbled boards. 22 x 14 cm
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Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778), the eminent philosopher and writer of the Enlightenment, devoted himself in his later years to botany with great intensity. His originally French-language botanical letters are addressed to a young learner and convey the basics of plant science in a clear, vivid manner. Rousseau regards engagement with plants not merely as a scientific discipline, but also as a way to observe and understand nature attentively and directly.

The English botanist Thomas Martyn (1735–1825), Professor of Botany at the University of Cambridge, translated and supplemented Rousseau’s letters with numerous of his own explanations. His additional letters systematically introduce Linnaeus’s classification and explain plant grouping according to their reproductive organs. The combination of Rousseau’s lively natural observation with Martyn’s scientific systematization made the work a lucid introduction to 18th‑century botany.

The copperplates first published in 1788 are the band’s particular attraction. Frederick Polydore Nodder, a prominent English natural illustrator, rendered numerous flowers in carefully executed, sometimes enlarged, detail views. In addition to lilies and other flowering plants, the impressive passionflower (Passiflora caerulea) appears. The fine contemporary hand coloring underscores both scientific precision and the decorative appeal of the illustrations.
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Binding worn and rubbed, covers with stronger wear, hinges occasionally split. Some leaves slightly loosened; paper occasionally browned and foxed. The 38 copperplates with nicely preserved, rich old coloring. Overall a charming exemplar of these botanical writings with the complete set of 38 colored copperplates."