Bauhin, Gaspard

Prodromos [Prodromus, in Greek] theatri botanici, in quo plantæ supra sexcentæ ab ipso primum descriptæ cum plurimis figuris propontur.

Francof. a. M., typ. Treudelii, 1620. 4to. viii + 160 + xii pp. With 138 woodcut illustrations in text. Contemporary full calf, joints broken, some browning. From the library of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, inscribed ‘Bibliothecæ Colbertina’ at head of title. First edition. Bauhin’s classification of species is the beginning of a modern ‘natural’ classification based on general morphology, and he realized the convenience of the binominal nomenclature which later became a central feature of Linnaeus’s system.
“Bauhin’s use of binary names can hardly fail to have influenced Linnaeus in proposing their universal adoption, but it must be emphasized that Bauhin’s specific names were always descriptive and defining: his usage thus differs from Linnean nomenclature although foreshadowing it” (Morton). Pritzel 507. Hunt 319 (second edition, 1671). A. G. Morton, History of Botanical Science, 1981, pp. 145 ff. Cf. Printing and the Mind of Man, 121 (Bauhin’s Pinax, 1623).

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