‎TOURNEFORT, JOSEPH PITTON DE.‎
‎Histoire des plantes qui naissent aux environs de Paris, avec leur usages dans la Médecine.‎

‎Paris, Imprimerie Royale, 1698. 8vo. In a nice later full calf binding with five raised bands and richly gilt spine. All edges coloured in red. Scratches to boards and previous owner's name to front free end-paper and a few leaves miscoloured, otherwise a nice and clean copy. (56), 543, (19) pp. ‎

Reference : 60881

‎First edition of Tournefort’s work on plants in the vicinity of Paris and their use in Medicine. Joseph Pitton de Tournefort (1656-1708) studied with the Jesuits and quickly became interested in botany, which he began to learn from an apothecary in Aix-en-Provence. In 1679, he went to Montpellier to study medicine taking the opportunity to inventory the region's flora. After a stay in Barcelona, he returned to Montpellier and assembled a renowned herbarium that caught the attention of the royal physician Guy-Crescent Fagon. On the king's orders, he embarked in March 1700 on a journey to the Levant. His observations, published posthumously, concerned not only botany but also archaeology, geography and ethnology. Upon his return from the journey he was appointed in 1706 as a professor at the Royal College and holder of the Chair of Medicine and Botany.‎