LINNAEUS, Carolus (1707-1778). Hortus cliffortianus. Amsterdam: 1737 [i.e. 1738].

Small folio (425 x 252 mm). Half-title; engraved allegorical frontispiece of the Hortus Cliffortianus by and after Jan Wandelaar; title-page printed in red and black with engraved vignette; 36 engraved plates [including 28 by Wandelaar, of which 20 are after G. D. Ehret]. (Half-title disbound and creased, some minor occasional staining.) 19th-century calf, spine gilt (covers detached, some wear to spine ends). Provenance: Cleveland Botanical Garden (bookplate, sold Christie's New York, 4 December 2014, Sale 3400, lot 149).

FIRST EDITION of Linnaeus' first detailed catalogue of cultivated plants. During the three years that Linnaeus spent in Holland in 1735-38, staying mostly with the wealthy Anglo-Dutch banker George Clifford (1685-1760) at his estate at Hartekamp, near Haarlem, he produced an astonishing body of work, the most important of which were his Systema naturae (1735), in which he presented his new system of the plant, animal and mineral kingdoms; the Fundamenta botanica, in which he set forth his theory for systematic botany; the Genera plantarum, containing short descriptions of all 935 plant genera known at the time; and the Bibliotheca botanica, a comprehensive list of botanical literature. Published at Clifford's expense, the Hortus Cliffortianus contains Linnaeus' definitions and synonyms for the numerous species in Clifford's incomparable botanical gardens, which Clifford had placed under Linnaeus' direction. Linnaeus used the work extensively to provide examples for his monumental Species plantarum (1753). Wandelaar's engravings, most after designs by Georg Dionysius Ehret, make this Linnaeus' only truly beautiful publication. Pages 232-300 (gatherings Nnn2-Ffff2) are omitted as issued. Cleveland Collections 387 (GC copy this copy); Dunthorne 186; Hunt 504; Nissen BBI 1215; Norman 1358; Stafleu & Cowan TL2 4719; Wellcome III, p. 552.