Descourtilz, E: – Flore médicale des Antilles (from vol.

Very rare and outstanding botanical work on the Flora of the Antilles. The plates with additional hand-colouring, after drawings by J. Th. Descourtilz, the son of the author, who became famous for his drawings of birds. All volumes in first edition, with all the plates, as here, very rare. FIRST EDITION. Trained as a surgeon, Descourtilz traveled to Haiti in 1798 following his marriage to the daughter of an Artibonite plantation owner. Given his medical background, it was natural that Descourtilz would focus on the medicinal properties of the local flora. The work expanded, however, and the addition of color plates by his son Jean Théodore (who went on to publish two books on Brazilian birds) the Flore pittoresque et médicale des Antilles eventually became a celebratory survey of the natural beauty of the tropics. Only three copies of the first edition appear in the auction records since 1975. Dunthorne 90; Great Flower Books p 55; Nissen BBI 471; Palau 70725; Sabin 19693, Pritzel 2171. Free endpapers and titles with small, quentched stamp. Vol. 2 rebound, minor parts of spine renewed, edges partly browned.