AITON, William.
Hortus Kewensis; or, a Catalogue of the Plants cultivated in the Royal Botanic Garden at Kew. By William Aiton, gardener to His Majesty.
London, George Nicol, 1789.
Three volumes, octavo, 13 plates (7 folding), small tears to two of the larger folding plates; a very good set in contemporary speckled calf, front board of first volume weak but cords holding, flat spines gilt with double morocco labels in red and green, and with morocco lozenges for the volume numbers, bumped, a little chipped at head of spines.
First edition: the highly important handbook to the Royal Botanic Garden in Kew, nominally compiled by William Aiton, but based on the work of Sir Joseph Banks, who was the unofficial director of Kew. In fact, most of the important botanical descriptions here are by Banks' own librarians, Daniel Solander and Jonas Dryander.
Of course, given the date, Aiton is particularly interesting on the exotic South Seas plants that had been acquired during the voyages of Cook and his contemporaries. '47 species are attributed to Banks directly as introductions, and none is dated later than 1781. The majority of these were derivatives of the Endeavour voyage from New Zealand, Australia, the East Indies and St Helena, with several from Newfoundland and Iceland, the earliest dated 1767.' (H.B. Carter, Sir Joseph Banks, p. 282). Other plants are listed as having been introduced by all manner of European naturalists, with different species attributed, to name just a few, to important figures such as John Fothergill, Tobias Furneaux (commander of the second vessel on Cook's second voyage), the Russian naturalist Peter Simon Pallas, and Daniel Solander.
Significantly, this work represents the foundation of what is known about the accession of much of this material. Before 1793 few records were kept regarding this process, meaning that Hortus Kewensis is a central text in our understanding of the introduction of different species to Britain: the introduction notes that the book is an attempt 'to trace back, as far as possible, how long each plant has been cultivated in the British Gardens.' The text relies heavily on early herbals by Turner, Gerard, Parkinson, and Ray, as well as more recent works, particularly Miller's Gardener's Dictionary, which was published in its eighth edition in 1768. Many of the notes are derived from conversations with the great contemporary gardeners, including the famous nurseryman James Lee, who together with Lewis Kennedy, started the Vineyard nursery in Hammersmith, which was known for its exotic plants.
The thirteen engraved plates are by luminaries such as J.F. Miller, James Sowerby, George Ehret, and two names particularly well-known in Australian natural history, Ferdinand Bauer and Frederick Nodder.
A second edition was published in 1810-1813.
Carter, Sir Joseph Banks 1743-1820, p. 66.
