GOETHE, Johann Wolfgang von (1749-1832). Versuch die Metamorphose der Pflanzen zu erklären. Gotha: Wilhelm Ettinger, 1790.

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GOETHE, Johann Wolfgang von (1749-1832). Versuch die Metamorphose der Pflanzen zu erklären. Gotha: Wilhelm Ettinger, 1790.

Price realised GBP 500

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GOETHE, Johann Wolfgang von (1749-1832). Versuch die Metamorphose der Pflanzen zu erklären. Gotha: Wilhelm Ettinger, 1790.

First edition, first issue, of Goethe's first published testimony of his scientific interests. In it he attempted to explain the unity of type in different plant species by arguing that all plants derive from a mysterious 'archetypal plant', or Urpflanze, individual genera being modifications of this ideal type. 'Goethe thought that the biologist, by comparing a large number of plant and animal forms, can obtain a clear idea of the underlying archetypes ... What Goethe sought in biology and zoology was nothing less than a theory that would explain all living forms' (DSB). Goethe's fundamentally Aristotelian concept of an ideal type had a considerable influence on the later development of botany. Hagen 211; Norman 913; Osler 2767; Pritzel 3452; Milestones of Science 86.

Octavo (195 x 124 mm). First issue with Goethe's name printed above the title on title-page (lacking first and last blanks, title faintly browned and with tiny marginal worm track extending to second leaf, occasional light marginal staining at end). Modern boards. Provenance: some underlining and occasional marginalia in pencil.

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