Lamarck & Mirbel - Storia Naturale de' Vegetabili (1835-1837) tomo I e III

Lamarck, Jean-Baptiste – Mirbel, Charles-François Brisseau de. Storia Naturale de’ Vegetabili (classified by families with the indication of Linnaeus’s class and order). Translated into Italian by Mr. D. A. Farini. Florence, V. Batelli e Figli, 1835–1837.

The work is divided into volumes, including:

Volume I: Storia Naturale de’ Vegetabili (1835).

Volume III: Storia Naturale delle Piante (1837).

Binding:

Contemporary plain wrappers in poor-quality paper. The spines bear period handwritten titles (“Mirbel – Storia de’ Vegetabili” and “Mirbel – Storia delle Piante”) and paper cataloguing labels (“Serie M”). The bindings show evident signs of age, with widespread losses to the covering paper and partially exposed spines.

Historical notes:

An important scientific compendium combining the work of the renowned naturalist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, a pioneer of evolutionary thought, with that of Brisseau de Mirbel, founder of plant cytology in France. Farini’s Italian translation enriches the original text with notes and additions, making it a fundamental tool for the dissemination of systematic botany (according to the methods of Linnaeus and Jussieu) in 19th-century Italy.

Condition:

Genuine, unopened copies, but in mediocre condition as regards the bindings:

Covers: Heavy abrasions, tears, and losses of paper on boards and spines.

Interiors: Title pages intact, with scattered foxing due to the quality of the period paper.

Text blocks: In need of consolidation.

Sales note:

A work of great interest to collectors of the history of science and botany. Despite the external defects, the rarity of the Italian edition printed by Batelli in Florence and the importance of the authors—Lamarck in particular—confer significant historical value on the lot.