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BIGELOW, Jacob (1787-1879). American Medical Botany. Boston: Cummings and Hilliard, 1817-1821.
3 volumes, 4o (264 x 188 mm). 5 half-titles, 60 aquatint plates, a few finished by hand. (Lacking 14in vol. 1 as often, occasional spotting, a few leaves with small marginal stains, a few margins chipping). 20th century half morocco with speckled boards by U. Holzer, spines gilt, top edges trimmed, others uncut, 10 of 12 original wrappers bound in (light rubbing, particularly to the extremeties, a few small scratches).
FIRST EDITION OF THE FIRST BOOK PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES WITH PLATES PRINTED IN COLOR. Bigelow, professor of materia medica at Harvard, was one of America's greatest botanists. This work was to have been illustrated with hand-colored copperplate engravings; Bigelow decided that this would be too expensive, since he envisioned an edition of 1000 copies with sixty plates each. Ultimately he printed the plates using aquatint, with the ink applied to the plates "à la poupée." Richard Wolfe claimed that a process of creating plates by etching stone was used, but recent work by Philip Weimerskirch and others has established that the aquatint process was used. Austin 205; Bennett, p.11; Cleveland Collections 804; Cushing B384; Garrison-Morton 1842; Heirs of Hippocrates 1444; Nissen BBI 164; Norman 234; Pritzel 733; Sabin 5294; Resse, Stamped with a National Character 10; Stafleu-Cowan TL2 514; Wolfe, Jacob Bigelow's American Medical Botany (1979). (3)
3 volumes, 4o (264 x 188 mm). 5 half-titles, 60 aquatint plates, a few finished by hand. (Lacking 14in vol. 1 as often, occasional spotting, a few leaves with small marginal stains, a few margins chipping). 20th century half morocco with speckled boards by U. Holzer, spines gilt, top edges trimmed, others uncut, 10 of 12 original wrappers bound in (light rubbing, particularly to the extremeties, a few small scratches).
FIRST EDITION OF THE FIRST BOOK PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES WITH PLATES PRINTED IN COLOR. Bigelow, professor of materia medica at Harvard, was one of America's greatest botanists. This work was to have been illustrated with hand-colored copperplate engravings; Bigelow decided that this would be too expensive, since he envisioned an edition of 1000 copies with sixty plates each. Ultimately he printed the plates using aquatint, with the ink applied to the plates "à la poupée." Richard Wolfe claimed that a process of creating plates by etching stone was used, but recent work by Philip Weimerskirch and others has established that the aquatint process was used. Austin 205; Bennett, p.11; Cleveland Collections 804; Cushing B384; Garrison-Morton 1842; Heirs of Hippocrates 1444; Nissen BBI 164; Norman 234; Pritzel 733; Sabin 5294; Resse, Stamped with a National Character 10; Stafleu-Cowan TL2 514; Wolfe, Jacob Bigelow's American Medical Botany (1979). (3)