Gray's Manual of Botany

[Thomas G. Lammers]

At 12:28 PM 01-13-98 -0700, Jerry Bricker wrote:
>Friends,
>
>I picked up a copy of Asa Gray's "School and College Edition of the Manual
>of Botany of the Northern United States" at a second-hand store over the
>holidays.  The publication date is 1867.  I also have on my shelves a copy
>of Gray's "School and Field Book of Botany consisting of Lessons in Botany,
>and Field, Forest, and Garden Botany" dated 1880.
>
>I wonder which is the true Gray's Manual that is so often referred to in
>taxonomic circles.  Does anyone out there know the history of Gray's manual
>from its original publication through its many revisions over the years?

Neither, really.

The Manual was "A Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States"  Ed. 1
(1848); Ed. 2 (1856); Ed. 3 (1862); Ed. 4 (1863); Ed. 5 (1867); Ed. 6
(1890); Ed. 7 (as "Gray's New Manual of Botany; 1908); Ed. 8 (as "Gray's
Manual of Botany", 1950).  Ed. 2 and 4 had "School and College" editions as
well as regular ones.  Not sure exactly how they differ, except that they
are shorter.   Ed. 3 was solely as a School and College Edition.  Most
editions went through multiple printings.  For details, see Fernald's intro
to ed. 8, and Stafleu & Cowan's Taxonomic Literature ed. 2 (TL-2).

The former book you have is one of the School and College editions of Gray's
Manual ed. 4; the other three School & College editions of Manual ed. 4 were
published in 1864, 1865, and 1869.

The latter book is a binding of two of Gray's textbooks together, and does
not contain any of the Manual.  Gray was an extremely popular and prolific
textbook author in his day.


Thomas G. Lammers

Classification, Nomenclature, Phylogeny and Biogeography
of the Campanulaceae, s. lat.

Department of Botany
Field Museum of Natural History
Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive
Chicago, Illinois 60605-2496 USA

e-mail:    tlammers at fmnh.org
voice mail: 312-922-9410 ext. 317
fax:                312-427-2530

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