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The folio issues of the Forsters’ Characteres Generum Plantarum (1775 and 1776): a census of copies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 October 2014

Michael H. Rosove*
Affiliation:
UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA (mrosove@gmail.com)

Abstract

The Characteres Generum Plantarum of Johann Reinhold Forster and Georg Forster was the principal printed botanical work emanating from James Cook's second voyage of 1772–1775. The printing most frequently encountered is a 31.2 cm quarto dated 1776 that was probably run off in several hundred copies. A single 1775 quarto was recently discovered. Also produced was a well-known but very rare 47.5 cm folio. In this first-ever census of folio copies, two dated 1775 and 14 dated 1776 are verified; their locations, descriptions, and provenances are detailed herein.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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