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2017-217, Book
Flora Virginica exhibens Plantas quas Nobilissimus vir. D.D. Johanes Claytonus, Med. Doct. etc. etc. in Virginia crescentes observavit, collegit & obtulit
2017-217, Book

Flora Virginica exhibens Plantas quas Nobilissimus vir. D.D. Johanes Claytonus, Med. Doct. etc. etc. in Virginia crescentes observavit, collegit & obtulit

Date1762
Primary Author Johannes Fredericus Gronovius (1686-1762)
After work by John Clayton (1686 - 1773)
OriginEurope, Netherlands, Leiden
MediumHandmade laid and wove paper, paper board, marbled paper, leather, black printing ink, gold
DimensionsOverall: 10 9/16 × 8 1/2 × 3/4in. (26.8 × 21.6 × 1.9cm) Other (Page size): 10 1/4 × 8 1/4in. (26cm, 8 1/4in.) Other (Map throw-out): 15 9/16 × 10 1/4in. (39.5 × 26cm)
Credit LineGift of Mr. and Mrs. Richard F. Barry, III, Mr. and Mrs. Macon F. Brock, Mr. and Mrs. David R. Goode, Mr. and Mrs. Conrad M. Hall, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas G. Johnson, Jr., Mr. and Mrs. Charles W. Moorman, IV, and Mr. and Mrs. Richard D. Roberts.
Object number2017-217
DescriptionThe book has thick paper boards covered in marbled paper with honey- colored leather covering the corners and the spine. ‘Flora Virginica’ and ‘62’ are gold embossed on the spine and there is blind embossing on the leather that overlaps onto the board. The text is letterpress relief and there are brown ink inscriptions beside most sections throughout the text block and a few graphite inscriptions in the beginning and end of the book. The pastedowns are a rich maroon red that are attached to the board and the first end page. There is a throw-out in the back of the book, an etching that is a map of Virginia.
Label TextBy the 1730s, Gloucester County, Virginia, botanist John Clayton provided naturalists such as Mark Catesby in England and Johannes Fredericus Gronovius in Holland with over 500 seed and plant specimens. In 1762, Gronovius arranged Clayton’s work in Linnaean order and published it under the title Flora Virginica. It is perhaps the earliest botanical map of any location in the world.

Exhibition(s)