A Voyage to Senegal, the Isle of Goree, and the River Gambia

$750 · Offered by Book Collector Inc

Author: Michel Adanson (1727-1806) Year: 1759 Publisher: Printed for J Nourse and W Johnston Place: London Description: xiii+337 pages with folding map. Octavo (8 1/4" x 5 1/2") bound in full leather with five raised spine bands with gilt lettering. Translated from the French with notes by an English Gentleman, who resided some time in that country. First English edition. French botanist, Michel Adanson was the son of the equerry to the Archbishop of Aix-en Provence. His family moved to Paris in 1730 when his father's employer assumed responsibility for the archdiocese. He was destined from an early age for the priesthood and, through his connections to the Church, was provided with a canonry from Champeaux en Brie, which paid the cost of his education. At college, however, he demonstrated an extraordinary aptitude and passion for the natural sciences and afterwards went on to study and work under the direction of Raumur and Bernard de Jussieu. While he was cataloging the plants that had been grown in the Jardin du Roi since 1740, he began to play with the idea of a classification system capable of describing all living plants. He was determined to travel to some little-known region where he could discover new plants, and used his connections to secure a position at the trading post in St Louis, Senegal. Before leaving, he gave up his stipend, forfeiting his ecclesiastical career, and acquired the various skills he would need to collect data on the country's flora and fauna,

• Binding: Hardcover

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