FLORA HERSCHELIANA

Sir John and Lady Herschel at the Cape 1834 to 1838

First edition: 296 pages, colour frontispiece, 208 plates and illustrations - mostly in colour, beige cloth boards, titled gilt on the spine, top edge gilt, a very good copy in the dust jacket now preserved in a Brodart protector.

Brenthurst Press Third Series no 2.

Unnumbered copy of the Standard Edition of 850 copies.

Editor's note: 'Sir John Herschel (1792-1871), son of Sir William Herschel, the discoverer of the planet Uranus, has long been recognized as one of Britain's great nineteenth century scientists. His accomplishments in astronomy, mathematics and physics are well known, but this publication focuses on his private interest in botanical matters. A visit to the Cape of Good Hope from 1834 to 1838 to survey the southern skies exposed Herschel to another great natural wonder - the beauty and diversity of the Cape Flora. The profound impact this encounter had on both John and his wife Margaret resulted in a magnificent folio of botanical drawings (outlined by John using a camera lucida for scientific accuracy, and painted in watercolours by Margaret), most of which are reproduced in this volume. Herschel's restless analytical mind also let him to consider deeper issues, among them the morphology of bulbs, the diversity of species (before Darwin's Origin of the Species), and botanical scents and perfumes.'