BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 247 



in the Edinburgh Review found fault with its Latinity, and the 

 author withdrew it from circulation." 



To this statement Henfrey appends the following footnote : 



" The statement here repeated by our excellent author, although 

 frequently made during Mr. Brown's life, and vouched for by high 

 authority, is, we have reason to believe, founded in error. The 

 original edition of the ' Prodromus ' remained for many years in 

 the hands of the publishers ; and the remaining copies were at last 

 withdrawn from sale only because Mr. Brown was desirous of 

 keeping them in reserve to be given as presents to those botanists 

 to whom he thought they might be most useful." 



In order to set the matter at rest, so far as the supposed criticism 

 went, Mr. Daydon Jackson has examined not only the Edinburgh 

 but the other Reviews of the period, and has found no notice of 

 the Prodromus in any of them. 



The real reason for the non-continuance of the Prodromus seems 

 to be that given by Francis Buchanan (once Hamilton) in two of 

 the letters included by Colonel Prain in his very interesting sketch 

 6f the life of that botanist issued in 1905, of which I hope to give 

 some account later. Writing to Wallich in 1817, from Callander, 

 Buchanan says that "in this country" there is not "at present 

 any encouragement for works on natural history, so that the first 

 volume of Browne's [He] Prodromus Florae Novse Hollandiae, a 

 most scientific work, finding no sale whatever, he has stopt short." 

 Again in 1821 Buchanan writes : " Brown's work on the plants of 

 N. Holland, one of the most scientific that has of late appeared, 

 would not sell in London, and he was so mortified that I believe he 

 will publish no more of his Prospectus [Prodromus] ." 



Sir Joseph Hooker, commenting on the statements of Martius 

 and Henfrey, says: "In 1856 Mr. Brown informed me that the 

 Prodromus was printed by himself, costing him about £100, and 

 that after about 26 copies were sold at 18s. each, he recalled all 

 the remaining copies. I made a note of this at the time, and 

 inserted it in a copy which he gave me in 1839." 



So much interest attaches to everything connected with this 

 "liber aureus," to adopt Martius's phrase, that the following 

 particulars, from a memorandum in Brown's hand in the copy of 

 the Prodroynus in use in the National Herbarium may be worth 

 printing. It would appear that the book was published early in 

 1810, but the date is not stated. The cost of printing 250 copies 

 was £93 14s. 4id. ; " advertizing in Morning Post and Chronicle " 



HAA. , i«v» f v 



cost 12s., on the covers of the Botanical Magazine and English 

 Botany a guinea each. Twenty copies were delivered in March "to 

 Miles' and Hunter formerly Johnson & Co. [whose names appear 

 on the title-page] , St. Paul's Churchyard/ 1 Nine copies were 

 "sent to Paris to Jussieu, Desfontaines, Labillardiere, Correa, 

 Richard, Beauvois, Bonpland, Du Petit Thouars, Leschenault M ; 

 sixteen were " presented to Sir J. Banks, Mr. Dryander, Dr. Smith, 

 Mr. Turner, Mr. Lambert, Dickson, Aiton, Ferdinand Bauer, 

 Francis Bauer, Koenig, Linnean Society, Mr. McLeay ; Mr. Law 

 of Edinburgh, Wernerian Professor, Trinity College, Dublin y Mr. 



