CHAP. V. 



LITERATURE, 



189 



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

 Traite des Arhres et Arhusles, by Du Hamel du Monceau, which was published 

 in Pai-is, in two volumes 4to", in 1755. In this work the nomenclature of 

 Tournefort is followed, but the names of Linnasus 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 215 

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

 edftion 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 124/. lbs., 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 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 30/. and 40/., and small paper copies for twenty guineas. _ 



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

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

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

 Forestieres, ou Histoire et Bescription des Arbres Indigenes, naturalises, dont le tige 

 a de trente d cent vingt ineds d' elevation, &c., parM, Jaune 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 des Chcnes de rAmerique, in one volume folio, in 1801 ; and his son, 

 F. A. Michaux, published Histoire des Arbres Forestieres de rAmerique Septen- 

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

 lish translation entitled the American Sylva, which was pubhshed 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 

 Histoire des Chenes, and is an excellent work, which still maintains its price 

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

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

 pleted in ]814,and which, though it contains herbaceous and house plants, as well 

 as littneous 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 Bctaniste Cultivateur; Les Annates de 

 Fromont ; Le Bon Jardinier, 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 51., have already appeared. 



In Holland, the only work exclusively.'devotedto trees and shrubs which, we 

 have heard of, is by Krause, and the title is, Afbeeldingen der Fraaiste, Meesi- 

 tvitheemsche Boomen en Heesters,&c. It appeared at Amsterdam in 1802, in 

 one thick roj'al 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 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 



