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KNAPP, J. L : Gramina Britannica; or, Representations of the British Grasses. With remarks and occasional Descriptions

Printed for the author, by T. Bensley; sold by J. White, 1804

The rare original edition. A very good copy in contemporary full calf, lacking the front board, the balance rubbed and worn, the title page defective and incomplete, some marginal scattered foxing to plates and light browning as usual else clean and tight, 119 hand-coloured plates, KNAPP, JOHN LEONARD (1767–1845), botanist, born at Shenley, Buckinghamshire, 9 May 1767, was son of Primatt Knapp, rector of Shenley. Educated at Thame grammar school, Knapp entered the navy, but finding the sea unsuited to his health, resigned and subsequently served successively in the Herefordshire and Northamptonshire militia, becoming a captain in the latter. He lived for a time at Powick, near Worcester, and was then in the habit of making long summer botanical excursions. On one of these he visited Scotland in company with George Don [q. v.], and collected several of the rarest species of British grasses. In 1804 he published ‘Gramina Britannica, or Representations of the British Grasses on 119 coloured plates, with Descriptions,’ 4to, the figures being executed by himself. This edition was, with the exception of a hundred copies, destroyed by a fire at Bensley's, the printers, and the book was not reissued until 1842

First Edition

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