Engraved title-page & five engraved plates. xvi, 294 pp. 8vo, cont. vellum over boards, spine lettered in gilt. [Florence: G. Cambiagi], 1776.

First edition of this scarce treatise on the cultivation, processing and use of madder (rubia tinctorum), a herbaceous climbing plant with small yellow flowers, the root of which is used medically, and — more importantly — as the primary source of dye (usually crimson). Madder was the principal source of various brilliant red pigments until artificial production of alizirin, the pigment chemical in madder, by Graebe and Liebermann in 1868.

The finely engraved plates depict the plant and... More