KNAPP, John Leonard. Gramina Britannica; or, representations of the British grasses. London: Longman and Co. 1842.
4to. Recent quarter red morocco, black cloth boards, spine with raised bands, gilt rules, tools and green morocco gilt lettering pieces, all edges marbled; pp. [vii, iv, printed on recto only], 118 hand-coloured plates each with leaf of explanatory text; previous owner's signature and inkstamp of Blackburn Public Library to title page, very clean throughout, very good.
Second edition. In professional life Knapp was a sailor and then a militia captain, but his heart was in botany. This is one of his major works, a delicately illustrated survey of British grasses dedicated to "that Supreme Being, whose mercy hath led his unseeing creature through all his various wanderings… Whether I have trembled on the faithless bog - hung over the slippery margin of the unfathomed lake - or climbed the dangerous precipice of alpine steeps…"
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