Poona, Government Photozincographic Department, 1909-1911. In two Volumes. Large 4to (29.8 x 23.2 cm). 1153 pp. [vi, 508, xxvi; xxxix, 574]; two tissue-guarded frontispieces, 541 text engravings. Contemporary uniform half morocco over linen boards. Spines with five broad, raised bands and two gilt-lettered labels.

The magnum opus of the Irish botanist William Alexander Talbot (1847-1917), Conservator of Forests in Bombay between 1901 and 1909. Volume I deals with Ranunculaceae to Rosaceae; Volume II with Rhizophoraceae to Gramineae. The large text figures are quite detailed. The figures are numbered consecutively, but pagination of Volume II starts anew. In 1976 a cheap reprint was published, but this is the very rare original edition. Free endpapers with a vertical crease. Index leaf pp. iii-iv partly torn and chipped, however without text loss. Otherwise clean, unmarked. In all a good set of this rare forest flora, very well illustrated and with broad margins. Stafleu and Cowan, 13682.