Observations on the Structure of Fruits and Seeds, translated from the "Analyse du Fruit" of M. Louis-Claude Richard

London & Norwich: John Harding; Wilkin & Youngman, 1819. First and only edition, illustrated with six engraved plates drawn by the author, slim octavo, pp xx, 100, a little foxing, marking and age-toning, but overall very sound internally, original boards, a later (but still early) cloth spine, unlettered, the binding again slightly worn but sound. With the book label of the physician and botanist Thomas Bell Salter. [Of the utmost rarity. At the age of 19 Lindley was taken under the wing of William Jackson Hooker who, at that time, was still living in Halesworth before his move the following year to Glasgow. Lindley was impressed with a book he found in Hooker's extensive botanical library - Richard's "Demonstrations botaniques, ou Analyse du Fruit considere en general" of 1808. He translated the work into English, working for three days non-stop. When published, it included six plates from Lindley's original drawings. The title page claims it includes the author's latest corrections, and Stearn points out that the preface rejects Linnaeus' system of classification in favour of the the natural orders of Jussieu. This is the first book, and the first published illustrations, of the "father of modern orchidology" - one of the most importand and dominant figures of Victorian botany.]. First Edition. Boards. Good.