BEDDOME, Richard Henry
The ferns of southern India. Being descriptions and plates of the ferns of the Madras Presidency.
Madras (now Chennai), printed by Gantz Brothers, 1863. Large 4to (31 x ca. 24.5 cm). With 272 lithographed line illustrations of Indian ferns, numbered I-CCLXXI plus XXVIIIA, all signed "Govindoo del. G. Winchester Lith. Madras". Contemporary half brown leather. [1], [1 blank], [1], [1 blank], [1], [1 blank], XV, [1 blank], 88, VII, [1 blank] pp.
€ 4,500
First edition of a very scarce book on Indian ferns, published in Madras (now Chennai). It was a pioneering effort in documenting the rich pteridophyte flora of southern India. The 272 detailed lithographs are accompanied by succinct descriptions of the characteristics of the genera and species depicted. A second edition was published in 1873, an accompanying work titled The ferns of British India was published in 1866, and a supplement to the two works - Supplement to the ferns of southern India and British India with 45 additional plates, was published in 1876. With these works, the author provided a list of all then-known ferns from India, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Burma (Myanmar), and the Malay Peninsula. The total number of illustrated species and varieties came to 660, solidifying Beddome's contribution to the study of Indian ferns.
Richard Henry Beddome (1830-1911) was a British army officer and distinguished naturalist whose contributions to the botanical and zoological sciences were pivotal in 19th-century colonial India. Serving in the Madras Presidency, Beddome was appointed Conservator of Forests, a role through which he extensively explored and documented the flora of southern India. He is best known for his authoritative works on ferns, particularly the present work and its later supplement, both richly illustrated and foundational in Indian pteridology.
With some contemporary pencil and ink annotations. The head of the spine has been restored, the edges of the boards are somewhat scuffed, internally very slightly foxed and browned. Otherwise in very good condition. Jackson p. 386; Nissen BBI, 116; Pritzel 555; Stafleu & Cowan 391; WorldCat 6227464, 1437399073 (17 copies); cf. BMNH p. 121.
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