[LINNE, Carl von] / MOUTON-FONTENILLE DE LA CLOTTE, J.-P. Système des plantes, Contenant les Classes, Ordres, Genres et Espèces ; les Caractères naturels et essentiels des Genres ; les phrases caractéristiques des Espèces ; la citation des meilleures Figures ; le climat et le lieu natal des Plantes ; l’époque de leur floraison ; leurs propriétés et leurs usages dans les Arts, dans l’Economie rurale et la Médecine…

First edition of the first translation of this important compilation of the essential texts of Linne by the Linnaean Marie-Jacques-Philippe Mouton-Fontenille de la Clotte (1769-1837).

Pritzel 5431.

Marie-Jacques-Philippe Mouton-Fontenille de la Clotte, was a French naturalist born in Montpellier on 8 September 1769. After good studies at the university of his native city, he became a professor of natural history at the Academy and Lycée of Lyon, a member of the Athénée, the Société de Médecine, and other learned societies of that city. Mouton-Fontenille was later appointed curator of the cabinet of natural history founded in Lyon, and exercised his functions until 4 April 1831, when he retired.

In 1798 he wrote a Tableau des systèmes de botanique, more or less the French translation of Linné’s Classes plantarum, and in 1809 a work entitled Linné françois, ou Tableau du règne végétal en cinq tomes.

The present work is important in the diffusion of the ideas of Linne in France in a context where its supporters were mainly found in the provinces because of the hostility of Buffon, who reigned supreme over the natural sciences in Paris from 1739 to 1788.

It was mainly naturalists from Montpellier and Lyon who maintained the Linnaean tradition: François Boissier, Antoine Gouan (1733-1821), a pupil of Boissier, Jean-Emmanuel Gilibert, a friend of Boissier and Gouan and Mouton-Fontenille de la Clotte.

The work is decorated with an engraved portrait of Linnaeus in the frontispiece after Rottin.

Precious copy preserved as issued, sewed and untrimmed.