DESCEMET, Jean.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Catalogue des Plantes du Jardin de Mrs. les Apoticaires de Paris, Suivant leurs genres & les caractères des Fleurs, conformément à la méthode de Monsieur Tournefort, dans les Insituts. The author's copy of the revised second edition, with his ownership signature dated 1770 on the title page. It is supplemented by an extended autograph manuscript introduction, notes on the interleaved pages, and numerous botanical samples - primarily leaves - laid in. In the former, Descemet frames the work as a study of "materia medica", an early term for pharmacology.The Garden of Apothecaries was established in 1628 by the Paris School of Pharmacy. It was intended as a resource for the students as well as to provide medicinal herbs for the apothecary trade, which was centered in the areas around the garden. Descemet (1732-1810), who studied medicine in the city, likely made use of the garden in his education. His catalogue – the first edition of which was published in 1741 - lists 820 species and uses the classification system of Joseph Pitton de Tournefort, which was based on the typology of flower and fruit shapes rather than their medicinal uses. It became the main guide to the garden and was sold onsite. The manuscript material was presumably written for a planned third edition and includes extensive autograph notes on the interleaved pages. These correct and expand on the catalogue entries, adding extra information, such as the similarities between borage and buglosses, and additional

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