Author: ABBOT (Charles)
Title: Flora Bedfordiensis, Comprehending such Plants as Grow Wild in the County of Bedford, Arranged According to the System of Linnaeus, with Occasional Remarks.
Description: Bedford: Printed by W. Smith, 1798. First edition, xii, 351, [9]pp., presentation inscription from the author, 6 cont. hand-coloured engraved plates, cont. half, 2 contrasting gilt lettered morocco labels, paper shelf label to spine, a nice copy. This is the third English local flora, after Ray (Cambridge) and Sibthorp (Oxford), and the first in English. Although the BM (NH) copy has coloured plates, and Henry calls for them, this book is usually found with uncoloured plates, coloured copies an extremely rare in commerce. "A work described by one authority as 'almost a model as a county flora'... Abbot's carefully prepared Flora bedfordiensis is written entirely in English, except for the first two words of the title and the Linnaean botanical names of the plants. It lists 1325 flowering plants and cryptogams. A brief description of each species is followed by the general place of growth, and in the case of some rare plants, the precise locality". (Henry). Henrey, British Botanical and Horticultural Literature. II, p. 73.

Keywords: BOTANY BEDFORDSHIRE FLORA, BEDFORD, BOTANICAL BOOKS