RAY, John.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Catalogus plantarum Angliae, First edition. "It is now a fairly uncommon book, though this may be partly explained by one of its main purposes, that is, to be used by botanists in the field, so that many copies would probably have been used up and destroyed" (Keynes). John Ray (1627-1705), "the son of a blacksmith, became one of England's greatest naturalists. He was pre-eminently a botanist (he originated the division of plants into monocotyledons and dicotyledons), but also took up the unfinished ornithological work of his friend Francis Willughby" (Oxford Companion to English Literature, fifth edition)."As a result of his tours in Britain Ray acquired a first-hand knowledge of our native flora and he was able to use the material he gathered during these journeys in preparing his Catalogus plantarum Angliae, et insularum adjacentium, published by John Martyn, publisher to the Royal Society. It appeared in 1670 dedicated to Ray's friend Francis Willughby... Ray had no sympathy with the many superstitious beliefs connected with plants, and both in his Cambridge catalogue [1660] and his English catalogue he attacked such credulousness. In the opinion of Raven, Ray's attention to this subject 'did important service in promoting the scientific investigation of the medical use of plants, and combating its age-long association with superstition'" (Henrey). Included here is an "Index morborum & remediorum", a list of botanical cures for various medical problems (Z6r-2A3v); Ray's mo

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.