THORNTON, Robert John (1768-1837). The Philosophy of Botany. London: T. Bensley for the publishers, White, Johnson and Co. ...and the author, [1799]-1810.

4 volumes, folio (476 x 330 mm). Engraved calligraphic general title in vol. I: "The Philosophy of Botany, being Botanical, and Philosophical Extracts".

Comprising:
Volumes I-II: Botanical Extracts or Philosophy of Botany. London: T. Bensley for the publishers, White, Johnson and Co. ...and the author, 1810. Calligraphic title in vol. I, 2 letterpress titles with mounted woodcut allegorical vignettes by Branston after Thurston on india paper; 2 engraved plates of double-portraits by Caldwell after Opie and David depicting Priestley/Lavoisier and Mayow/Evelyn and one aquatint botanical plate by Warner after Henderson.

Volume III: Elementary Botanical Plates... Intended to Illustrate Botanical Extracts. London: T. Bensley for the publishers, White, Johnson and Co. ...and the author, 1810. Letterpress title; engraved allegorical frontispiece by Ridley after Russell and Opie, 27 engraved portraits, one engraved view, and 73 engraved, mezzotint, and aquatint plates of botanical, scientific, and other subjects (2 double-page).

Vol. IV. A New Illustration of the Sexual System of Linnaeus. London: T. Bensley, 1799. Calligraphic title; engraved frontispiece by Bartolozzi and Landseer after Reinagle, 88 engraved, mezzotint, and aquatint botanical plates (1 folding, 2 double-page); 2 engraved calligraphic titles bound at end ("The Philosophy of Botany...including," [second state] and "The Genera of Exotic and Indigenous Plants..."), followed by one engraved plate, a section title ("Class I. One Stamen"), 3 engraved tables, and 2 engraved explanation leaves. (Marginal toning, light spotting throughout, several plates trimmed close.)

Contemporary diced russia gilt [endpapers watermarked 1809], boards with deep gilt borders of alternating foliate rolls, arabesque cornerpieces, central panel with a single gilt rule and fan-shaped cornerpieces in a partial "Scottish wheel" design, gilt turn-ins of palmette rolls, spines gilt in compartments, lettered in one "THORNTON'S PHILOSOPHY OF BOTANY", numbered in a second, and dated at the foot, other compartments decorated in gilt, gilt edges (rebacked preserving original spines). Provenance: William Rattray, Esq., Lieutenant Colonel of the artillery in the Bengal Army (armorial bookplate).

FIRST EDITION, EARLY ISSUE, without the words "including" on the engraved title-pages. Although there is some disagreement amongst bibliographers (Stafleu calls it "a "bibliographer's nightmare", as few copies are alike), the three components of this work are properly known together under the title The Philosophy of Botany and were issued as such; the titling on the spine of this and the engraved titles in both sets (in two different states) confirm this. Cleveland Collections 744; Nissen BBI 1956; Pritzel 9235; Stafleu & Cowan TL2 14284-14285.