SWARTZ'S RARE WORK ON WEST-INDIAN PLANTS 1794-1801.

SWARTZ, OLOF. Icones plantarum incognitarum quas in India Occedentali detexit atque delineavit. Fasc. I (all published). Erlangae, sumtibus Ioannis Iacobi Palm, 1794-(1801).

Folio (about 430x260 mm.). (3), 4-8 (pp. 3-4 bound last). 13 contemporary handcoloured engraved plates J. F. Volkart after O. Swartz (complete, some minor browning, title browned in the margins and with some spotting).
Late 19th century worn green half cloth. Rare first edition.

Ref. Pritzel 9064*; Nissen: BBI 1917; Stafleu: TL-2 1352; Krok p. 679:28.

Olof Swartz (1760-1818), Swedish botanist, professor and intendent at Bergianska gardening school 1791, professor in botany and natural history at the Karolinska Institutet 1813. He travelled in the West Indies and the North East parts of South America between 1784 and 1786. A total of about 200 drawings were prepared for this work, of which 71 survived, but only these 13 plates were published. All depict Jamaican plants.

Provenance: Olle Wallin (1934-2021), economist who began his professional career working for the Swedish commercial bank Svenska Handelsbanken, after which he was employed by the construction company Beijers, working under Anders Wall.
His interest in books and nature was inspired by his parents, both avid book collectors and interested in natural history. Wallin began collecting seriously after moving to Stockholm in the 1970's, and frequently visited the many antiquarian book shops as well as attended the auctions. His line of work also required extensive travel, foremost to the European continent and the US, and he usually took the opportunity to combine the business trips with visits to leading antiquarian book sellers and auction houses. Many of the more important and valuable works in his collection were acquired on those occasions.

See text.