THE AMERICAN FLORA, OR HISTORY OF PLANTS AND WILD FLOWERS: CONTAINING A SYSTEMATIC AND GENERAL DESCRIPTION, NATURAL HISTORY, CHEMICAL AND MEDICAL PROPERTIES OF OVER SIX THOUSAND PLANTS, ACCOMPANIED WITH A CIRCUMSTANTIAL DETAIL OF THE MEDICINAL EFFECTS, AND OF THE DISEASES IN WHICH THEY HAVE BEEN MOST SUCCESSFULLY EMPLOYE

New York: Published by Strong and Burdick (Vol. I), and Green and Spencer (Vol. II, 1848. Two volumes. Vol. I: 137,[1],iv pp.; lithographic additional title, frontispiece, and fifty plates, printed in colors and finished by hand. Vol. II: 192pp.; lithographic additional title, frontispiece, and forty-six plates, printed in colors and finished by hand. Quarto. Original pictorial gilt cloth, spines richly gilt in vine pattern, a.e.g. Boards lightly rubbed, corners worn and bumped, worn at spine ends. Scattered foxing, confined largely to the text but with a few fox marks on some plates, but with the plates generally clean and brightly colored. A very good set. The first two volumes of this four-volume work. The last two volumes are quite rare. Asa Strong, a physician, was one of the most popular natural history writers of his day. The qualities of each plant are given and its medicinal uses explained. Several of the plates were drawn by the noted illustrator, Edwin Whitefield, and others are by D.W. Moody. A definitive collation for this work is problematic, as Stafleu notes: "The copies listed in The National Union Catalog show a great variation." According to Stafleu, there are three issues of volume I, dated 1846, 1847, and 1848. The present set includes the 1848 third issue of volume I, which should have a frontispiece, engraved title and fifty plates. The present copy includes all those and is therefore complete. The second volume contains one more plate than called for by Stafleu (who notes only an additional titlepage, frontispiece, and forty- five plates). Bennett writes: "The publisher clearly did not count pages of color plates when listing the numbers on the title pages, but counted every separate item on each page. It has even been suspected that he counted fly-specks" (p.103). Bennett further notes that complete sets of Strong's AMERICAN FLORA... are "extremely difficult to locate."

Strong is particularly interesting as one of the first publications to include introduced exotics, including plants from Africa. BENNETT, p.103. BRADLEY BIBLIOGRAPHY III, p.58. McGRATH, p.218. B.A. Norton, EDWIN WHITEFIELD, p.145. STAFLEU & COWAN TL2 13.290