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James MacFadyen, 1847.
Details
Description of the Nelumbium Jamaicense. The Jamaica Water Bean
James MacFadyen, 1847.
MACFADYEN, James (1799-1850). Description of the Nelumbium Jamaicense. The Jamaica Water Bean. Kingston, Jamaica: printed by R.J. Cordova, 1847.
A very rare Jamaican natural history imprint. This is the only copy we trace in the auction records of ABPC and RBH. Somewhat enigmatically the front wrapper and title-page declare this book to be "Not Published." Macfadyen spent 25 years in Jamaica, having originally emigrated there from Glasgow to establish a Jamaican botanical garden. This is the first full scientific description of the Jamaica water bean. MacFadyen writes that it was first made known to botanists in 1754, but as it grows in secluded mangrove swamps and had become more scarce in the intervening decades, it was some years before MacFadyen obtained a specimen to study.
Octavo (250 x 180mm). (Toned.) Three lithographed plates by Kidd after drawings by G. McNab, one plain (pale marginal dampstain), one partially hand-colored, and one large, colored and folding (marginal stub tear). An additional lithograph by and after Kidd tipped to verso of frontispiece. Original printed wrappers (spotting), wood-engraved vignette on front cover, bound into modern quarter morocco. Provenance: Sir Prior Goldney (bookplate) – Bonhams, 1 December 1998, lot 656.
James MacFadyen, 1847.
MACFADYEN, James (1799-1850). Description of the Nelumbium Jamaicense. The Jamaica Water Bean. Kingston, Jamaica: printed by R.J. Cordova, 1847.
A very rare Jamaican natural history imprint. This is the only copy we trace in the auction records of ABPC and RBH. Somewhat enigmatically the front wrapper and title-page declare this book to be "Not Published." Macfadyen spent 25 years in Jamaica, having originally emigrated there from Glasgow to establish a Jamaican botanical garden. This is the first full scientific description of the Jamaica water bean. MacFadyen writes that it was first made known to botanists in 1754, but as it grows in secluded mangrove swamps and had become more scarce in the intervening decades, it was some years before MacFadyen obtained a specimen to study.
Octavo (250 x 180mm). (Toned.) Three lithographed plates by Kidd after drawings by G. McNab, one plain (pale marginal dampstain), one partially hand-colored, and one large, colored and folding (marginal stub tear). An additional lithograph by and after Kidd tipped to verso of frontispiece. Original printed wrappers (spotting), wood-engraved vignette on front cover, bound into modern quarter morocco. Provenance: Sir Prior Goldney (bookplate) – Bonhams, 1 December 1998, lot 656.
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