Extraordinary work, among the most prestigious dedicated to the natural history of the Alps, rare to find complete and in excellent condition like our specimen.


First edition of a splendid publication on the flora of the mountains and of the valleys of Piedmont describing 2,814 plants (of which 2,390 phanerogams and 424 cryptogams; 237 are the species described for the first time) and illustrated by 92 botanical plates engraved in copper of great decorative beauty and scientific importance, the work of the great scientist and botanist Carlo Allioni (Turin, 1728-ibid, 1804). Saccardo, Botany in Italy, I, p. 13: "Carlo Allioni, a doctor from Turin (1728-1804), was a professor at that University and director of the Botanical Garden after Donati... The work that did him the most honor was the "Flora Pedemontana" published in 1785, of which the first two volumes contain the description of 2800 plants, and the last one gives the figure of 275 species exactly drawn, with the place of birth, the quality of the soil, the Piedmontese vernacular name and the medicinal capacity of these plants…". Pritzel, 108. Nissen, 18. Manno, I, 5233. Brunet, I, 190-191. Graesse, I, 81. Sacheverell Sitwell and Wilfrid Blunt, Big Flower Books, p. 69. Dunthorne, 6. Stafleu, 100. Cf. Mario Gliozzi in D.B.I., II, 1960: "Botanical studies culminated in the maximum work, the Flora Pedemontana of 1785, followed in 1789 by the Auctarium, with the description of about 3000 plants, many of which described for the first time. The mighty work, still fundamental for the study of Piedmontese flora, placed the A. among the greatest botanists in Europe, giving him the nickname of Piedmontese Linnaeus."