THUNBERG, C.P. Icones Plantarum Japonicarum, quas in insulis Japonicis annis 1775 et 1776 collegit et descripsit... Uppsala, J.F. Erdman, 1794-1805. 5 parts in one volume. Folio (369 x 248 mm). pp. (xxiv), with 50 engraved plates; some very faint occasional spotting, a very attractive copy in later half cloth and marbled boards.

First edition of Thunberg's rare sequel and counterpart to his 'Flora Japonica' (1784). This work contains some of the first Western illustrations of Japanese species, and is a landmark work, along with the 'Flora', for the Linnaean botany of Japan. Thunberg visited Japan disguised as a Dutchman. He was confined to the Dutch trading post built on a tiny artificial island, and was reduced to examining the forage plants brought from the mainland to feed the domestic animals. He was able to make only limited excursions to the mainland, but nonetheless managed to assemble a remarkable accurate picture of the Japanese flora. The 'Icones' illustrates 'inter alia' several Japanese species of 'Acer', including the highly variable 'Acer palmarum', here illustrated for the first time. This copy contains an unrecorded four-page address, in French, by Thunberg to the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences thanking them for making him a member. It is bound in the fourth part.

Provenance: early nineteenth-century stamp on title 'Property of the N. York Hospital' numbered 3255 on title; Horticultural Society of New York, bequest of Kenneth K. Mackenzie October 1934, with bookplate; Robert de Belder.

Nissen BBI, 1960; Stafleu & Cowan 14364.