CIIAP. V. LITERATURE. 189 



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

 Trnitc ties Arbrcs ft Arbuslcs, by Da Hamel clu Monceau, which was published 

 in Paris, in two volumes 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, from 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 edition 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 prepared by Mirbel, Loiseleur Deslongchamps, 

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

 lished price of a royal folio copy was 1247. 105., and of a common copy nearly 

 1007. 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 type, large paper, and other characteristics of the mode, now gone by 

 both in France and 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 307. and 407., and small paper copies for twenty guineas. 



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

 the Histoire dcs Arbres et Arbrisseaux, by M. Desfontaines, appeared in two 

 volumes 8vo, and is still a work of repute. In 1824, Trade dcs Arbrcs 

 Forcsticrcs, on Histoire ct Description dcs Arbrcs Indigenes, naturalises, dont le tige 

 a dc trcnte a cent vingt picds d' elevation, &e., par M. Jaime St. Hilaire et M. 

 Thouin, appeared in one volume 4to, with coloured plates, 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 Michaux, a notice of whose life has been given, p. 140., published 

 Histoire dcs Cliencs dc V Amcriquc, in one volume folio, in 1801 ; and his son, 

 F. A. Michaux, published Histoire dcs Arbres Forestieres de FAmerique Septen- 

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

 ILsh translation entitled the American Sylva, which was published in Paris, in 

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

 work contains 156 plates, including figures of all the oaks described in the 

 Hutoire dcs Chencs, and is an excellent work, which still maintains its price 

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

 Cultivcttcur of Du Mont de Courset, in seven volumes 8vo, which was com- 

 pleted in 1 8 1 4, and which, 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 Botaniste Cultivateur ; Les Annalcs de 

 Fromont ; Le Bon Jardinier,thc edition of which work for the current year con- 

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

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

 volumes 8vo, price 57., have already appeared. 



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

 have heard of, is by Krause, and the title is, Afbecldingen der Fraaiste, Mccst- 



iritlicemsdie Boomcn en Heesters,&.c. It appeared at Amsterdam in 1802, in 

 one thick royal 4to volume, the price of which in London is 101. The 

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

 coloured with much more care than those of either Willdenow, 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 



