Titford, William Jowit:

$6,000 · Offered by William Reese Company

SKETCHES TOWARDS A HORTUS BOTANICUS AMERICANUS; OR, COLOURED PLATES (WITH A CATALOGUE AND CONCISE AND FAMILIAR DESCRIPTIONS OF MANY SPECIES) OF NEW AND VALUABLE PLANTS OF THE WEST INDIES AND NORTH ... This copy bears a contemporary gift inscription on the first page of the preface: "The gift of Warwick Pearson Esq. of Kirky, Lonsdale, Westmoreland to Tho. Warwick Syndman, Antigua."Titford was a Jamaica-born physician who lived on that island for many years, travelled extensively in the United States, and described himself as a corresponding member of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts. Otherwise little is known about him, excepting this work, for which he made all of the original drawings for the beautiful handcolored plates. Titford's only known publication, the volume was originally issued in six parts, and editions appear with titlepages dated 1811 and 1812. These factors may account in part for the variations in pagination between extant copies, supporting Ian MacPhail's comment that "[t]he cataloguer who is faced with the bewildering collation of J.W. Titford: Sketches towards a hortus botanicus Americanus, London, 1811, is likely to throw up his hands in despair."An exquisite color plate botanical work, one of the earliest to depict American plant species, here with a fine contemporary Caribbean provenance.

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