An arrangement of British plants

The first complete scientific classification and description of British plants in the English language

WITHERING, William (1741-99). An arrangement of British plants; according to the latest improvements of the Linnaean system. . . . 4 vols., 8vo. 31 engraved plates (1 hand-colored, 1 folding). Birmingham: for the author by M. Swinney [etc.], 1796. 212 x 130 mm. Calf c. 1796, a little rubbed, hinges cracking. Occasional foxing, a few marks and marginal notes in pen and pencil, but very good. Early owner's signature and bookplate in all vols.

Third and Best Edition of the first flora of British plants to use Linnaean binomial nomenclature, and the first complete scientific classification and description of British plants in the English language.

The first edition of Withering's British Plants, published in two volumes in 1776, "was little more than a translation of the portions of Linnaeus's writings relevant to English botany. As Withering acquired more botanical experience, however, his Botanical Arrangement became increasingly based on his first-hand observations. In the last edition published during his lifetime (1796), Withering effected a number of important taxonomic changes in the Linnaean system. He also surveyed the British cryptogams, a class of plants imperfectly described by Linnaeus" (DSB).

Withering's book remained a standard British flora long after his death, going through four more editions (prepared by his son) between 1805 and 1830. Henrey, Brit. Bot. & Hort. Lit., III, 1508, noting that p. 418 in Vol. 4 of some copies is incorrectly numbered; ours has the correct numbering (elsewhere [II, p. 119] Henrey describes Withering's work as "the first outstanding work on British plants to be published in English"). Not in Hunt.