BLACKSTONE, John. Fasciculus Plantarum circa Harefield sponte nascentium. Cum appendice, ad loci historiam spectante.

Dedicated to Sloane, with 122 Lost Species

BLACKSTONE, John. Fasciculus Plantarum circa Harefield sponte nascentium. Cum appendice, ad loci historiam spectante. London: Henry Woodfall. 1737.

Small 8vo in 6s. Contemporary mottled calf, boards filleted in gilt, spine with raised bands, gilt red morocco lettering-piece, shelflabel to foot of spine, marbled endpapers; pp. viii, 118; woodcut head- and tailpieces; with late eighteenth-century inscription ‘found here below stairs’ to front flyleaf; some toning to title, else a very good copy.

First edition of a ‘remarkable achievement’ in local ecology, preserving over one hundred extinct species, dedicated to Sir Hans Sloane.

John Blackstone (1713–1753) was a London apothecary with strong family links to Harefield, and this work was the first flora of the parish in what is now known as the London Borough of Hillingdon. ‘It was a remarkable achievement at that period for a 24-year-old just out of his apprenticeship. It contains a list of 523 plants in alphabetical order of their pre-Linnean Latin names’ (Bowlt & Bowlt). The book still has significant merit. Blackstone’s methodical and comprehensive work has made it a valuable point of reference for modern analyses of local extinctions: ‘By the time of the L.N.H.S. survey (1965–1976) … 122 flowering plant species recorded by Blackstone were no longer present. That is, 26% of his plants had become extinct in about 240 years ... For the British Isles as a whole it is estimated that about 15 species (i.e. about 1% of the total) of flowering plants and ferns have been lost in the last 100 years ... The greater percentage loss in the smaller area of Harefield illustrates the vulnerability of small populations’ (ibid.).

Although he devoted his professional life to his apothecary’s business, the solid work represented by the Fasciculus led to his encouragement in his botanical studies by Sir Hans Sloane, an acquaintance of his grandfather. He was commissioned to collect specimens for both the Society of Apothecaries and the Chelsea Physic Garden.

ESTC T81032; Henrey 447. See E.M & C. Bowlt, ‘John Blackstone (1713–1753); a London Apothecary and Botanist of his Time’, Watsonia 23 (2000).

SKU: 2121839