LINNAEUS (LINNÉ), CARL. - "WAITED FOR EXPECTANTLY" AND "RECEIVED WITH ACCLAIM".

Flora Lapponica exhibens Plantas per Lapponiam Crescentes, secundam Systema Sexuale Collectas in Itinere... Additis Synonymis, & Locis Natalibus Omnium, Descriptionibus & Figuris Rariorum, Viribus Medicatis & Oeconomicis Plurimarum.

Amsterdam, Salomonem Schouten, 1737.

8vo. Contemporary full mottled calf. Light wear to top of spine. Light wear along fronthinge. Raised bands. Richly gilt compartments. Titlelabel in leather with gilt lettering. Engraved frontispiece. Titlepage in red/black. (40),372,(38) pp. and 12 folded engraved plates. Printed on good paper. Internally clean and fine.

Scarce first edition of this highly important work, which is one of the first in which Linné worked out his binomial nomenclature, being of "prime importance for the nomenclature of Arctic-Alpine species".
On May 12th 1732, Linnaeus set out on his journey into Lapland, returning to Uppsala on October 10th, after adventures in snow and sleet, discovering 'novelties in all three kingdoms of nature', including many new plants. All this he recorded in diary and catalogue... Linnaeus worked on the present volume during his sojourn in Leyden and at the Clifford estate at Hartecamp in Holland. A Society was formed at Amsterdam to defray the expenses of the plates.., and the 'Flora Lapponica' came forth in 1737, just ahead of the 'Geneve plantarum' and the 'Hortus Cliffortianus'. Botanists had waited for it expectantly, and they received it with accaim. (Hunt No. 502).

"The journey was the most adventurous that Linnaeus ever made; it has been assessed by his fellow-countrymen as the most fruitful single scientific expedition ever made in Sweden both for its immediate botanical results and its influence on Linnaeus's later career. It led to the publication in 1737 of his Flora Lapponica which is of prime importance for the nomenclature of Arctic-Alpine species; Linnaeus's Lapland specimens, on which this was based, are in Paris." (The Linnaean Correspondance).

Hulth: p. 21 - Soulsby: No. 279.

Order-nr.: 49368