PRODROMUS SYSTEMATIS NATURALIS REGNI VEGETABILIS

17 volumes bound in 21.

Pars 1 - 14 bound 15 volumes (Pars 13 is in 2 volumes) in contemporary calf with red and green title labels and marbled paper sides and with the page edges dyed red. Pars 15 - 17 (in 6 volumes) bound in modern leather with red and green title labels and marbled paper sides. Paris 1824 - 1873.

Some very occasional light foxing in the earlier volumes and wear to the binding along the edges of the spines and corners, overall a very good set.

With the facsimile reprint of Beuk\'s INDEX GENERALIS ET SPECIALIS AD A.P. DE CANDOLLE PRODROMUS SYSTEMATIS NATURALIS REGNI VEGETABILIS, 4 parts bound in 2 volume in dark blue cloth, published by A. Asher & Co., (Berlin 1842 - 1874),  Amsterdam 1967.

This index is necessary for the practical use of the main work.

\'Candolle\'s first attempt at reclassifying the plant kingdom was Regni vegetabilis Systema Naturale, in 1818- 21. He soon followed this with a proposal for a massive work that would cover the entire kingdom, and call on the services of a large number of botanists to cover the different familes - the subject being to large for one person. The resulting work was the Prodrolums Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis. Publication began in 1824, and continued until 1873. The completed work comprised 17 volumes, only the first seven of which did Candolle live to edit himself. Altogether 35 authors collaborated on the work, including George Bentham, Sir Joseph Hooker, Eduard Regel, August Grisebach, A.W. Wichler and Dietrich Schlechtendahl, and a representative sampling of the period\'s great Taxonomists. Candolle himself wrote the treatments of 115 families. Julius von Sachs described it as \'the grandest work of descriptive botany that is as yet in existencer\'. From its eighth volume, the Prodromus was edited by Candolle\'s son Alphonse who treated 40 families.\' Brent Elliott, Librarian and Archivist to the Royal Horticultural Society writing in the Garden, October 1994, pages 491 – 493.