The Collected Library

Book No. II (of 5) only, folio (368 x 273 mm). Containing pp.29-48. 20 hand-colored plates. (Light spotting and offsetting throughout.) Original red calf-backed printed boards (covers moderately soiled and worn with few minor stains, crown of spine chipped).

FIRST EDITION OF ONE OF THE RARE ORIGINAL PARTS of Carson's classic work on materia medica, produced in a large format and employing lithographs. McGrath considered them "particularly noteworthy for their technique, carefully heightened with varnish." In format and execution of plates, this ranks as one of the foremost botanical works written and produced in the United States in the 19th century. Carson was a professor of materia medica at the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy (1836-1850) and at the University of Pennsylvania (1850-1876). He also served as editor of the third American edition of Elements of Materia Medica and Therapeutics by Jonathan Pereira. McGrath, p.54. Bennett, p.20.