Description of the plants collected by the Danish Arabia expedition, with an original drawing

Vahl, Martin Henrichsen / Forsskål, Peter. Symbolae botanicae, sive plantarum, tam earum, quas in itinere, inprimis orientali, collegit Petrus Forskål, quam aliarum, recentius detectarum, exactiores descriptiones, nec non observationes circa quasdam plantas dudum cognitas.

€ 35,000.00

First and only edition of a description of the plants collected in Egypt, Syria, and the Arabian Peninsula during the Danish expedition to Arabia (1761-67) by the Swedish naturalist and explorer Peter Forsskål (1732-63). The present work is among the first devoted to this material. It describes a selection of the collection according to Linnaean taxonomy, and has been copiously illustrated with 75 large plates. These are usually all engraved, but in the present copy one has been beautifully drawn by hand.

The Danish Arabia expedition set out with the goal to elucidate the Old Testament, but also to study the natural history and geography of the region. Forsskål, one of the six members of the group, was in charge of collecting botanical and zoological specimen. He was one of Linnaeus' most gifted pupils, and had been selected for the expedition with Linnaeus' approval. Unfortunately, he passed away after contracting malaria in Yemen. His notes and specimens were brought back to Copenhagen by the cartographer Carsten Niebuhr (1733-1815), who edited the notes and published them as two works in 1775: "Descriptiones Animalium - Avium, amphiborum, insectorum, vermium quæ in itinere orientali" and "Flora Ægyptiaco-Arabica". The botanical specimens were first studied by the Norwegian botanist Martin Vahl (1749-1804), who, like Forsskål, had been a pupil of Linnaeus. After several research trips in Europe and North Africa, he became a professor of botany at the University of Copenhagen in 1786, which gave him access to Forsskål's collection. After ordering it by genus, he described them in the present work, which was published in three parts with 25 plates each, all beautifully engraved by C. F. Müller.