Singe

Eight Volumes. Volumes 5, 6, 7 and 8 are plate volumes. Wonderfully illustrated. Bookplate of R. B. Wardlaw Ramsay. 8vo. Original full cloth bindings embossed in blind. Volume one missing spine. Hardbound set. Second edition. The Scotsman, John Claudius Loudon (1783-1843), was the most eminent early 19th century expert on landscapes, gardening, and agriculture. At the age of 20 he visited London and was shocked by the gloomy trees and plantings in the public squares. He published an article, Observations on Laying out the Public Squares of London" in the Literary Journal, in which he recommended the Oriental plane, almond, sycamore, and other lighter trees, instead of the lugubrious plantings that had hitherto been in vogue. His advice gradually prevailed, and the effect is still to be seen in London and throughout the kingdom. Now he was an author, as well as practical workman, and his pen went onward with little intermission for forty years. , until his life terminated. Many of his works were enriched with copperplate engravings of landscape scenery, drawn by himself. He became a successful practitioner and instructor in agriculture, gardening, architecture, botany, etc. His greatest work, which would of itself have been sufficient for any ordinary lifetime, was this Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum," in which he gave an account, with pictorial illustrations, of all the trees, wild or cultivated, that grow in Great Britain. This production, which was published in 1838, at his own risk, was so unsuccessful, that after paying artists and other persons engaged in it, he found himself in debt to the amount of L10,000 to the printer, stationer, and wood-engraver, while the sale of such a splendid publication was so slow, that there was no prospect that it would ever pay its own expenses. Though sick of heart and body, he went on to publish other enormously significant works that are valued today by collectors, historians, scientists, and all who work with plants in any capacity. **PRICE JUST REDUCED! PLANTS W133