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Hasselquist, Frederick; Linnaeus, Carl (ed.).
Voyages and Travels in the Levant; In the Years 1749, 50, 51, 52. Containing Observations in Natural History, Physick, Agriculture, and Commerce: Particularly on the Holy Land, and the Natural History of the Scriptures [Iter Palaestinum].
Publisher: Printed for L. David and C. Reymers, opposite Gray’s-Inn-gate, Holborn, Printed to the Royal Society, London;
Date of Publication: 1766
Stock Code: 15172
First English edition, after the Swedish of 1757. Octavo, pp., [8] prelims, viii, 456, plus folding map to front. Complete with the half-title. Later half-calf over marbled paper; spine on five bands; titled in gilt to spine. A few slight scuffs to leather; binding strong and square, the corners sharp. Toning to contents. A very good copy. The first English edition of the first systematic natural history of Palestine, by one of the ‘apostles’ of Carl Linnaeus, the Swedish physician known as the ‘father of taxonomy’. Enlivened by his professor’s advances in the classification of life, the young Frederick Hasselquist (1722-52) travelled extensively across Asia Minor, Egypt, Palestine, and Cyprus. The first part of the volume is Hasselquist’s journal and correspondence, the second his observations on botany, zoology, and disease. During his travels, Hasselquist assembled large collections of specimens, which arrived safely in Sweden, despite Hasselquist dying in 1752 while in Smyrna. His notes, a substantial study of the natural history of Palestine and the Levant, were edited by Linnaeus himself. The book was translated into English, according to the preface, by another (unidentified) disciple of Linnaeus. The seventeen apostles of Linnaeus all embarked upon dangerous voyages in the name of taxonomy, seven of them never returned. Their influence was profound. Joseph Banks was inspired by their efforts to begin the British tradition of placing a naturalist on all British research trips. The apostles then had a direct influence on Darwin’s presence on the Voyage of the Beagle. £400.00