Flora Graeca Sibthorpiana. Vol. 10

Sibthorp J., Lindley J. — Flora Graeca: sive plantarum rariorum historia, quas in provinciis aut insulis Graeciae legit, investigavit, et depingi curavit Johannes Sibthorp, M.D... Characteres omnium, descriptiones et synonyma, elaboravit Johannes Lindley, Ph.D... Vol. 10: Centuria Decima. — London: Richard and John E. Taylor, 1840. — 106 p., 66 pl.Flora Graeca was a publication of the plants of Greece, resulting from a survey by John Sibthorp and Ferdinand Bauer; the finely crafted and illustrated work was of both scientific and horticultural interest. In 1786-1787, they surveyed the plants and animals of the eastern Mediterranean, Sibthorp collecting and describing, Bauer making dried specimens and producing colour-coded sketches. Bauer's work, including around a thousand annotated sketches, is now regarded as one of the finest examples of botanical illustration. The second trip was made with Francis Borone in Turkey and the Peloponnese 1794-1795. Sibthorp assembled the descriptions and plates, at his death in 1796 he left a will providing funds for the publication of an illustrated Flora Graeca in 10 folio volumes (with 100 plates each) and an unillustrated Prodromus to be compiled with the help of his manuscripts, drawings and specimens by a "competent botanist". The task of preparing the works was undertaken by James Edward Smith, who issued the six volumes as Flora Graeca Sibthorpiana between 1806 and 1828. The seventh appeared in 1830, after Smith's death, and the remaining three were produced by John Lindley between 1833 and 1840. Each volume contained a hundred plates, except the last, and these were engraved by James Sowerby. Only 30 copies of this set were issued, another 50 complete sets were reissued in 1845 by Henry George Bohn.