An extraordinary work, among the most prestigious dedicated to the natural history of the Alps.

First edition of a splendid publication on the flora of the mountains and valleys of Piedmont, illustrated with 92 copper-engraved botanical plates of great decorative beauty and scientific importance, the work of the great scientist and botanist Carlo Allioni (Turin, 1728-ibid., 1804). Saccardo, Botany in Italy, I, p. 13: "Carlo Allioni, a doctor from Turin (1728-1804), was a professor at the University and director of the Botanical Garden after Donati… The work that did him most credit was the "Flora Pedemontana" published in 1785, of which the first two volumes contain the descriptions of 2,800 plants, and the last gives the figures of 275 species accurately drawn, with the place of origin, the qualities of the soil, the Piedmontese vernacular name, and the medicinal properties of the plants…". Pritzel, 108. Nissen, 18. Manno, I, 5233. Brunet, I, 190-191. Graesse, I, 81. Sacheverell Sitwell and Wilfrid Blunt, Grandi libri di fiori, p. 69. Dunthorne, 6. Stafleu, 100. Cfr. Mario Gliozzi in DBI, II, 1960: "The botanical studies culminated in the major work, the Flora Pedemontana of 1785, followed in 1789 by the Auctarium, with the description of around 3000 plants, many of which were described for the first time. This powerful work, still fundamental for the study of the Piedmontese flora, placed the A. among the greatest botanists in Europe, earning him the nickname of Piedmontese Linnaeus."