Subject: Antique book of the XIX century. Agriculture. Botany. Vid.
Publication: Madrid, At Villalpando's Printing House, 1807. 1st edition.
Physical description: Quarto (26.5 x 20 cm.) Title page, plate, 1 sheet explanation sheet, XVIII pages, 324 pages, 1 watercolor plate. Handsome period binding full red leather decorated with wheels on planes and gilt irons on spine. Green cloth.
Conservation: Very good condition.
Notes: Special edition with bluish toned paper and wide margins.
Simón de Rojas Clemente (1777-1827) was a scientist, polyglot and renowned Valencian botanist. Initially destined for an ecclesiastical career, he abandoned it to devote himself to science, studying at the Royal Botanical Garden in Madrid under the tutelage of Antonio José Cavanilles.
In Madrid, he taught Arabic to Domingo Badía Leblich (Alí Bey) and traveled with him in Europe, but was abandoned during an espionage mission by Badía. As compensation, he was commissioned to write the Natural History of the Kingdom of Granada.
He was appointed librarian of the Royal Botanical Garden and continued his research, standing out for his “Ensayo sobre las variedades de la vid común que vegetan en Andalucía” (1807), translated into several languages. He also collaborated in the “Ceres Hispánica”.
During the War of Independence, he was Frenchified in Malaga. After the war, he underwent a process of depuration before being reintegrated into the Royal Botanical Garden, where he became director. He was deputy
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