Lot 68: KARL VON MARTIUS (1794-1868) AND JOSEPH ZUCCARINI (1797-1848)

KARL VON MARTIUS (1794-1868) AND JOSEPH ZUCCARINI (1797-1848) Nova Genera et Species Plantarum quas in itinere per Brasiliam annis MDCCCXVII-MDCCCXX ... collegit et descripsit. Munich: [1823-] 1824-1829 [-1832]. 3 volumes bound in two, 2° (360 x 254mm). Half-titles, general title bound in after title to vol. III. Lithographic titles to parts II & III and 300 lithographic plates, 8 double-page, 2 others with folding wings, by T. Bischoff, S. Minsinger and others. (Lacking lithographic title to part I, occasional faint spotting mostly confined to text of part I, tiny worming affecting plates 70-100 with plate 100 more heavily affected and very small repair to verso, tiny marginal worming to plates 266-300 with last few plates with minor marginal repairs, plate 101 trimmed at head just into image, a few other minor marginal repairs including to title and half-title of part III.) Slightly later green morocco, gilt leather labels on front covers, decorative endpapers (rebacked with gilt spines, the whole recased and sometime furbished). FIRST EDITION. Martius's Brazil expedition brought to light a huge number of previously unknown plants, many of them first depicted here. The trip had many scientific repercussions, not least pointing out the necessity for a more rigorous and expansive classification system which could incorporate the newly discovered species. According to Martius's own calculations in 1837, approximately 15,000 specimens from Brazil alone could be found by that time in European botanic gardens, approximately the equivalent of all the plants of Europe, and yet that number represented only about one quarter of all plants in Brazil. Borba de Moraes II, p.524; Dunthorne 192; Great Flower Books (1990), p.117; Nissen BBI 1288; Sabin 44989; Stafleu & Cowan 5519.