Beschreibung:

BUTE, John Stuart (1713-1792, 3rd Earl of). Botanical Tables, containing the different Familys of British Plants, distinguished by a few obvious parts of fructification rang'd in a synoptical method . [London, privately published: circa 1785]. 9 volumes, 4° (285 x 225mm). Engraved title in volume I with hand-coloured vignette view by W. Baillie, engraved dedication to Queen Charlotte, 656 ENGRAVED PLATES BY JOHN MILLER ALL EXCEPT TWO HAND-COLOURED, 27 engraved tables, the tables and plates printed rectos and versos on thick paper. (Occasional light offsetting onto text, volume V with several plates spotted.) Original speckled calf, covers with delicate roll-tool borders and central gilt-blocked arms of the Earl of Bute, spines in six compartments, tooled in gilt with red, green and blue morocco lettering-pieces and volume numbers, turn-ins gilt-tooled (corners and joints lightly rubbed, volume IX head of spine chipped, upper joint cracked). Provenance : John Stuart 3rd Earl of Bute (gilt arms); early-nineteenth-century catalogue description pasted on front free-endpaper of volume I. THE AUTHOR'S COPY. One of between 12 and 16 privately printed copies for presentation; this was apparently one of several copies retained by the author. The set comprises: Volume I. Botanical Tables; Introduction; Observations on the generical characters of British plants; Characters of the genera; Appendix, 53 engraved plates, 27 engraved tables. Volumes II-VI. The Different parts of Fructification in each genus of British plants represented in figures, 513 engraved plates. Volume VII-VIII. The Characters of the species of British plants. Volume IX. Some observations on the terms employed in Botany, and particularly on those borrowed from the anatomical descriptions of animals; Figures of the different parts of plants; A glossary . . . of botanical terms, 90 engraved plates. John Stuart 3rd Earl of Bute, statesman, friend and adviser to George III was a great collector and patron of the arts and sciences. In 1763 he purchased the estate at Luton Park, Bedfordshire, where Adam designed a palatial house. In the grounds he created a botanic garden, where he he was able to indulge himself in one of his great passions, the study of botany. As a man of science he wanted to order and classify the diversity of nature, and to this end embarked on a study of British plants characterising them by the nature of their flowers, petals, leaves, stems, buds and trunks. He employed the artist John Miller to draw up the plates for the work which was eventually published privately for friends in around 12-16 copies, apparently at a cost of #12,000. The copy given to Joseph Banks, now in the British Library, has an inserted manuscript note detailing the distribution of the copies as follows: Lord Bute (2), The Queen, Empress of Russia, Sir Joseph Banks, M. de Buffon, Lady Mackenzie, Lady Ruthven, Lady Macartney, Duchess of Portland, Mrs Barrington and Mr Dutens. Mr Dutens in his memoirs records the publication of 16 copies, as too does the nineteenth-century catalogue description pasted in the front of this copy. Of the original 12-16 copies, Stafleu and Henrey record 5 copies now in institutional hands: British Library (Banks copy); Natural History Museum, London; Lindley Library (a Bute copy); Lundell Herbarium, Renner, Texas; Windsor (Queen Charlotte's copy purchased in 1819 by George III for #117), and a further 3 other copies in English private collections, including the present example. The last copy to appear at auction was the copy formerly in the possession of the Duchess of Portland offered in these rooms on 27th October 1988. Our copy with the Bute arms is evidently one of the few copies retained in his libraries. No copies of the work were included in the early Leigh and Sotheby sales of the Bute library, the first of duplicates in March 1785, and the second after his death in May 1794, although this second sale did include much of his botanical co