Beschreibung:

HOOKER, JOSEPH DALTON, Sir The Rhododendrons of Sikkim-Himalaya, being an account ... of the rhododendrons recently discovered in the mountains of Eastern Himalaya ... edited by Sir W. J. Hooker. London: Reeve, Benham, and Reeve, 1849-51-51. Second edition of part I, first edition of parts II and III, Three-quarters dark olive morocco, cloth sides. 19 5/8 x 14 3/8 inches (50 x 36.5 cm); title with lithographic vignette, 14 pp. text, and 30 very fine hand-colored lithographic plates each with accompanying text. Light wear to binding, the cloth at the corners lifting and with one corner starting to lift at the turn-in, still an attractive binding; the frontispiece loosening slightly at the gutter, the plates generally clean and sound. The result of an important English expedition that had strong political overtones (the maps from Hooker's survey were invaluable to the British authorities), this is one of the finest works on the Rhododendron genus. Hooker was imprisoned at the outset in November 1849, having disobeyed the instructions of the authorities in Sikkim by crossing into Tibet. As the DNB states: "The British government secured [Hooker's] release within weeks by threatening to invade Sikkim. The elderly raja was punished with the annexation of some of his land and the withdrawal of his British pension, a response that even some of the British thought excessive. Altogether Hooker collected about 7000 species in India and Nepal and on his return to England managed to secure another government grant while he classified and named them. The first publication was the Rhododendrons of the Sikkim-Himalaya (1849-51), edited by his father and illustrated by Walter Hood Fitch ... Hooker's travels added twenty-five new rhododendrons to the fifty already known and the spectacular new species they introduced into Britain helped create a rhododendron craze among British gardeners." Great Flower Books (1990) p. 58; Nissen BBI 911; Stafleu & Cowan 2969. C Property of a Maine Collector