AUTHOR: Barham, Henry (1670?-1726)
TITLE-PAGE TRANSCRIPTION: HORTUS AMERICANUS: |
CONTAINING | AN ACCOUNT OF THE |
Trees, Shrubs, and other Vegetable Productions. | OF
| South-America and the West-India Islands, | AND
PARTICULARLY OF THE | ISLAND OF JAMAICA; |
Interspersed with many curious and useful
OBSERVATIONS, | respecting their
USES in | MEDICINE, DIET, AND
MECHANICS. | BY THE LATE | Dr. HENRY
BARHAM. | TO WHICH ARE ADDED, | A
LINNAEAN INDEX, &c. &c. &c. | [double rule 93 mm.]
| KINGSTON, JAMAICA: | PRINTED AND PUBLISHED
BY ALEXANDER AIKMAN, PRINTER | TO THE KING’S MOST
EXCELLENT MAJESTY, AND | TO THE HONOURABLE HOUSE OF
ASSEMBLY. | [rule 35 mm.] | MDCCXCIV.
COLLATION: 23 x 14 cm. 8º:
p4 A-P8 Q4
[$4 signed] pp. [1]-7, [1]-212, [36]
CONTENTS: p. [i]. Title page. p. [iii]. Dedication.
p. [v]. Preface. p. 1. Text. p. [213]. Linnaean index. [15]. Index of diseases,
remedies, &c. p. [36]. Errata.
BINDING: Brown leather binding, red leather spine
label.
NOTES: Text written in 1711; indexes added
by Aikman. Interspersed with many curious and useful observations, respecting
their uses in medicine, diet, and mechanics. A rare work of Jamaican and
Caribbean botany. Barham, a British physician who settled in Jamaica in
the late 17th century, wrote this work in 1711, but it remained
unpublished until the present volume was issued in 1794 from the press
of Alexander Aikman in Kingston. ‘Barham states that after he came
to Jamaica he “read many books, especially physical.” His letters
and manuscripts indicate that in early life his education had been much
neglected; but … he possessed undoubtedly great ingenuity and a very
minute knowledge of the fauna and flor of Jamaica. Longwood, now so common
there, was introduced by him in 1711. Sir Hans Sloane, who refers to him
in terms of high commendation, received from him many valuable communications,
of which he made large use in his “Natural History of Jamaica.”
Among these was a treatise, “Hortus Americanus,” sent in 1711.
This treatise was published in 1794’-DNB. A Linnaean index and an
index of diseases and remedies were compiled for this publication.”
— William Reese, catalogue no. 168
REFERENCES: Stafleu, Frans A., and Richard S. Cowan,
Taxonomic Literature, 1976-1988 (2nd) 308; Pritzel (2nd) 413; Sabin
3376; Ragatz, p. 277; Cundall, p. 41; Dictionary of National Biography,
v. 1, p. 1108.
PROVENANCE: Samuel Wells Barnett, July 23, 1794. George
B. Emerson. Boston Society of Natural History, October 18, 1867.
KEYWORDS: 1. Botany--West Indies. 2. Botany--Jamaica.
LOCATION: QK225.B25
OTHER CALIFORNIA LOCATIONS: Stanford University
|
|