Gray, A.
A manual of the botany of the northern United States, from New England to Wisconsin and south to Ohio and Pennsylvania inclusive, (the mosses and liverworts by Wm. S. Sullivant,) arranged according to the natural system; with an introduction, containing a reduction of the genera to the Linnaean artificial classes and orders, outlines of the elements of botany, a glossary, etc.
Boston and Cambridge, MA, James Munroe, 1848. 8vo (19.7 x 12.0 cm) lxxii, 710, [i] pp. Original blind stamped cloth with a floral vignette on the boards, and the spine with gilt title.
First edition of this important botanical manual on North America by the eminent botanist Asa Gray (1810-1888) who was professor at Harvard University. The Manual went through five editions during Gray's lifetime. Signed by Wesley Osborn of the Rensselaer Institute at Troy, NY, on the first blank. For some reason, a nice engraving of Mandan Women, not belonging to this work but engraved after an aquatint by Karl Bodmer ("Ptihn-Tak-Ochatä, dance of the Mandan Women" from the book " Maximilian, Prince of Wied’s Travels in the Interior of North America, during the years 1832-1834"), pasted on the rear pastedown. Top of spine with a short tear, partly chipped; front hinge tender, cloth partly split at hinge, but holding well. Otherwise a very good copy. Stafleu and Cowan, 2124.
