Cervantes, Vicente (1755-1829)

Ensayo á Materia Medica del Reyno vegetal de Nueva España, ó Discurso sobre las plantas oficinales que crecen en las cercanias de Mexico que ha de servir de inicio en la abertura del curso de Botanica el dia 28 de mayo de 1791. Produced in Mexico. A general introduction occupies ll. 1-5. The remaining leaves describe the indigenous materia medica arranged according to the binomial system of Linnaeus. Mexican names are given in accordance with F. Hernández, Opera, ed. C. Gómez Ortega, 3 vols., Madrid, Heirs of Ibarra, 1790; Spanish names where necessary are given in accordance with A. Palau y Verdera's compilation from Linnaeus, i.e. Parte práctica de botánica, 8 vols., Madrid, Imprenta Real, 1784-88. The list and descriptions are comprehensive and of unusual interest. The botanical courses were first opened by Cervantes in 1788.

1791

54ll. (last 2 bl.). 30 x 20.5 cm. Modern leather binding in slip-case.

Purchased at Sotheby's 24.6.1919.

At Wellcome Collection: see Cervantes' 'Exercicios publicos de botánica...' (1792) (Collection: Request EPB American; Shelfmark: M.33) and its catalogue description in Robin Price, 'An Annotated Catalogue of Medical Americana in the Library of the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine' (London: Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, 1983).

Described in: Robin Price, An Annotated Catalogue of Medical Americana in the Library of the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine (London: Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, 1983).

Phillipps MSS. Nos. 15994, 16201.