CHAP. V. LITERATURE. 11 189 



In France, the first really important work on trees, in modern times, is the 

 Traite dcs Arbrcs ct Arhiistes, by Dii Ilamel du Monceau, which was published 

 in Paris, in two voliniies 4to, in 1755. In this work the nomenclature of 

 Tournefort is followed, but the names of Linnaeus are also given ; it is illus- 

 trated with numerous figures, partly taken, as the author informs us, fi'om the 

 blocks which were used in the Commentaries of Mathiolus ; and partly engraved 

 on purpose for the work. The first volume contains 368 pages and 275 

 engravings, and the second 387 pages and 199 engravings. The original 

 edition is not very common, and, when met with in London, sells at from 

 thirty to forty shillings. A new etlition of this work was commenced in the 

 year 1800, and it was completed in seven volumes folio in 1819. The letter- 

 press of these volumes was pre|)ared by Mirbel, Loiseleur Deslongchamps, 

 and other botanists ; and the drawings were by Redoute, Bessa, &c. The pub- 

 lished price of a ro}al folio copy was 124/. 10^., and of a common copy nearly 

 100/. The species are arranged according to the Linnaean system; and the 

 number of engravings of trees and shrubs, including some engravings of fruits, 

 amounts to 498. Both engravings and descriptions are of very unequal merit, 

 and many of the former (at least in our copy, which is a large paper one) are 

 altogether unworthy of the consequence attempted to be given to the work by 

 large t^pe, large paper, and other characteristics of the mode, now gone by 

 both in France ami England, of publishing for the few. As a proof of the 

 truth of what we assert, large paper copies may now be purchased in London 

 for between 30/. and 40/., and small ]iaper copies for twenty guineas. 



In 1809, while the new edition of Du Hamel was slowly publishing in parts, 

 the Hkloire des Arbres et Arbrlsscaux , by M. Desfontaines, appeared in two 

 volumes 8vo, and is still a work of repute. In 1824, Traite des Arbres 

 Forcstieres, cm Histoire et Description dcs Arbres Indigenes, naturalises, dont Ic tige 

 a de trente a cent vingt pieds tV elevation, &c., par M. Jaune St. Hilaire et M. 

 Thouin, appeared in one volume 4to, with coloured |)lates, price 10/. The 

 plates are badly executed, and the work, with the exception of the part written 

 by Thouin, is of a very inferior description, 



Andre Miehaux, a notice of whose life has been given, p. 140., published 

 Histoire des Cheties de I' Aniei-ique, in one volume folio, in 1801 ; and his son, 

 F. A. Miehaux, published Histoire des Arbres Foresticres de PAmeriqne Septen- 

 trionale, in three volumes, large 8vo, in 1812. Of this work there is an Eng- 

 lish translation entitled the American Si/lva, which was published in Paris, in 

 1817, at nine guineas plain, or twelve guineas coloured. F. A. Michaux's 

 work contains 15G plates, including figures of all the oaks described in the 

 HiJitoire des C/icncs, and is an excellent work, which still maintains its price 

 both in Paris and London. We ought not to pass unnoticed Le Botanistc 

 Cidtivateur ol Tin M^ovit de Courset, in seven volumes 8vo, which was com-, 

 pleted in 1814,andwhich,though it contains herbaceous and house plants, as well 

 as ligneous hardy plants, is yet more complete in its descriptions of the latter 

 than any other work, except Du Hamel's. There is no French work which 

 brings down the description and history of trees and shrubs to the present time ; 

 but, if we were asked what works we would recommend, as making the nearest 

 approach to this, we should say, Le Botanistc Citttivateitr ; Les Annates de 

 Fromont ; Le Bon Jai-dinier, the edition of which work for the current year con- 

 tains notices of all the plants newly introduced ; and, above all, the excellent 

 Prodromus of De Candolle, now in course of publication, and of which four 

 volumes 8vo, price 5/., have alreatly appeared. 



In Holland, the only work exclusively devoted to trees and shrubs which, we 

 have heard of, is by Kraiise, and the title is, Afbeeldingcn der Fraaiste, Meest- 

 wit/icemsc/ie Boomen en Hccsfeis,Scc. It appeared at Amsterdam in 1802, in 

 one thick royal 4to volume, the price of which in London is 10/. The 

 plates in our copy are executed in a very superior manner, and they are 

 coloured with much more care than those of either Wilklenow, Schmidt, or 

 Du Hamel. Some of the German works describing the different kinds of 

 wood were published at Amsterdam, as well as at Leipzic ; particularly that 



