A monument to the english private garden. First edition of 'The most important book to be published in England during the eighteenth century on the plants growing in a private garden' (Henrey, p.265). A very handsome set bound to style in panelled calf, likely by master binder Bernard Middleton (1924-2019).

After his retirement, the apothecary and botanist James Sherard (1666-1738) 'chiefly resided at Eltham in Kent, where he pursued the cultivation of valuable and rare plants and his garden, with its hothouses, became noted as among the finest in England. An illustrated catalogue of his collection was published by Dillenius in 1732... Despite his election as a fellow of the Royal Society in 1706, Sherard was initially less well known as a botanist than his brother, William... By the 1720s, however, James Sherard's own reputation as a collector of rare plant specimens was established, and his discoveries of English plants had augmented those of Ray and others. He now travelled more widely in search of specimens, including trips to the continent, as well as keeping up correspondences and exchanges of plants with other botanists, notably Richard Richardson. During the 1730s, he also assisted with the management of the Chelsea gardens' (ODNB).

The 325 fine, engraved plates were produced by botanist Johan Jakob Dillenius (1687-1745), who had been persuaded to move to England by Sherard 'to arrange his herbarium and compile an encyclopaedia (Pinax) of all names given to plants' (ODNB). Dillenius began work on these illustrations around 1724 and the result is significant 'because of the new genera described and later taken up by Linnaeus and because of the accuracy of the plates, especially of succulent plants, which make bad specimens' (ODNB). Dillenius remained 'central to British botany in academic as opposed to virtuoso circles, advancing basic knowledge besides cataloguing the world's flora. Linnaeus, who sent him specimens of Old World tropical trees, commemorated him in a genus Dillenia: "of all plants [it] has the showiest flower and fruit, even as Dillenius made a brilliant show among botanists"' (ODNB).

First edition; 2 vols, folio (45 x 27.5 cm); 325 engraved plates, woodcut head-pieces and decorative initials, just a little very light spotting and offsetting; finely bound to style in panelled calf, spines elaborately gilt in compartments, red and green morocco labels; a fine set.

Henrey 643; Nissen BBI 492.