Jacob Bigelow, American Medical Botany, Being a Collection of the Native Medicinal Plants of the United States ... . 3 vols. Boston: Cummings and Hilliard, 1817-1820.
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'With coloured engravings.'
Among the earliest American botanical atlases, Bigelow's was the first color plate book produced in America and the first botanical book published anywhere using color-printed engravings (rather than hand colored prints). The engravings were based on Bigelow's own drawings. Bigelow espoused the study and use of American plants for medicinal purposes: 'It is certainly better that our own country people should have the benefit of collecting such articles, than that we should pay for them to the Moors of Africa, or the Indians of Brazil.' (Preface, v. 1, p. viii)
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