Rare books from Pretty Good Books

1792 text in Latin by Carl Linnaeus, botanist and father of modern taxonomy. Reprint of the earlier 1732 edition.

Original 18th century binding. Contains twelve folding plates with slight offsetting. Front board detached. Back board loose. Spine cover missing. Foxing and age toning throughout the text. Former owner's name and date on front pages. Book plates and text still legible with delightful "long S" font script popular in the late 1700s.

Rare complete ten volume set. Numbered #1487 / 2500 Limited Editions. All signed by the author. Three volumes contain personal inscriptions by the author. Leather Bound. Silk morie ribbon, raised bands, gold lettering and filigree. All edge gilt. Several volumes contain black and white photographs and/or drawings. A few have color photographs. As New condition. One volume has a faint indication of scuffing / shelf wear to the front cover's gold gilt border, as shown. Otherwise mint or near mint conditions. Shipped with the utmost dispatch. Carefully packaged against mishandling.

Some shelf wear. Bumped corners, creasing to the crown and base of the spine. Cocked spine. Scattered foxing and aged toning throughout. Shadow of indication of a former owner's name on the front end pages which has been erased. Ink smudge on pages 131 & 132 which does not affect legibility. Some early indication of separation between the text block and spine.

Tipped-in gold lettering on the front and spine.

Robert Freke Gould was a soldier, barrister and prominent Freemason and Masonic historian. He wrote a History of Freemasonry, which remains a standard reference work on the subject.