Large 4to. Volume I: Text: vii, [1], 431 pp. / Volume II: Atlas: 512 plates (numbered 1-508 with 4 added plates to No. 420 [420a - 420d], original wrappers, index, spines lightly creased, small tear to lower spine of Texte volume and and top spine of Atlas, collector’s stamp H. Demiriz to endpaper, unopened, set inside clean and in very good condition, Vigot Frères, Editeurs, Paris, only edition, 1930.

Synopsis

The only reference for the flora of the Orient until to mid-19th century was “Flora Orientalis” 1867-88 by Edmond Boissier. It seems that there was no demand for up-to-date work on the subject. This changed when Rev. George F. Post of the American University of Beirut established what is now known the Post Herbarium. This formed a primary basis for the first of a new cycle of local works. In 1896 “Flora of Syria, Palestine and Sinai” by Post was published.
The advent of Francophone tertiary studies in Beirut in the late 19th century opened the way to an enduring tradition of French-language floristic works in the Lebanon and Syria. The first initiative was by Father Louis Bouloumoy of the Saint Joseph University of Beirut, who organised a herbarium and undertook floristic studies, largely completing them by 1914; his “Flore du Liban et de la Syrie” – this work – eventually appeared in 1930, its combination of text and atlas setting a precedent for later works on the Eastern Mediterranean.
Bibliographic reference: Frodin, “Guide to Standard Flora of the World”, 693.