PHYTOLOGIA,; or the philosophy of agriculture and gardening, with the theory of draining morasses and with an improved construction of the drill plough.
London: 1800. First Edition. 4to, pp. Illustrated with 12 engraved plates, including one folding and one double page. Bound in contemporary 3/4 calf (piece nicked from the bottom of the spine), some foxing, couple of plates with water stain, plates foxed. Generally a very clean copy. Author Kenneth Robert's copy with his bookplate. Henrey 615; Nissen 452; King-Hele, Erasmus Darwin 58-62; Wheeler Gift 621; McDonald page 224. Item #36911
Erasmus Darwin (1731-1802) was an English physiologist and poet, the grandfather of Charles Darwin. A physician in Litchfield, UK, Darwin kept an 8 acre botanical garden. Darwin's reputation rests on his long poem, The Botanic Garden (1789) which anticipates the Linnaean system. It was crude poetry seemingly written in a carriage while Darwin was traveling between patients. He decribed the plants through a misplaced amusing personification . In the present work, he described the plants as having sensation and volition. Roberts is best rememebred for his American historical romances, ie Trending into Maine, Northwest Passage, Arundel, etc.
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