This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 10/12/2023
HUGHES, Griffith (1707-c. 1758). The Natural History of Barbados. London: Printed for the author, 1750.
Large folio (422 x 267 mm). Dedication leaf, list of subscribers, double-page engraved map, engraved head-pieces, 30 engraved plates by Mynde and G. Bickham after G.D. Ehret and others (offsetting from plates to text, offsetting to map). (Title-page, dedication and first page of the subscriber’s list reinforced at outer margins, some ink spotting to the subscriber’s list). Full contemporary paneled calf, rebacked preserving endpapers and original spine in 7 compartments with raised bands, gilt lettering in second, gilt-centerpieces in others (some rubbing at extremes). Provenance: The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (bookplate and embossed stamp on title-page and p. 99).
FIRST EDITION of one of the earliest botanical studies on Barbados, a book “to place beside Catesby’s Natural History” (Hunt). The work remains notable for being possibly the first description in print of the grapefruit, which Hughes calls the “Forbidden Fruit” of Barbados. Holden 425; Hunt 536; Sabin 33582.