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William Griffith, Posthumous Papers Bequeathed to the Honourable the East India Company, and Printed by Order of the Government of Bengal. Icones Plantarum Asiaticarum. Parts I–IV, Calcutta, Bishop's College Press [-C.A. Serrao-A.B. Coshan], 1847-1854

4 parts bound in 1 volume
Part I: Development of Organs in Phanerogamous Plants (1847), pp. [4], xxviii, 661, with numerous lithographic plates.
Part II: On the Higher Cryptogamous Plants (1849), pp. [2], 253–390, with numerous lithographic plates.
Part III: Monocotyledonous Plants (1851), pp. [2], 391–582, with 21 lithographic plates.
Part IV: Dicotyledonous Plants (1854), pp. [2], 583–817, with numerous lithographic plates.
Comprising all four parts of Icones Plantarum Asiaticarum, continuously paginated and illustrated throughout with a total of 627 lithographed plates (numbered 1-661 with 37 bis plates, of which 34 noted by Nissen, but without plates 175-242, 65, 395, 511 and 524 as issued), approximately 100 hand-coloured plates; early half morocco with five raised bands and tooled in gilt on the spine, top edges gilt
13.5 x 10.5 in (34.5 x 27 cm)

A RARELY COMPLETE EAST INDIA COMPANY BOTANICAL ATLAS — GRIFFITH’S ICONES PLANTARUM ASIATICARUM, WITH OVER 600 PLATES

These posthumously published papers represent one of the most important contributions to 19th-century Indian botany. Griffith, a pioneering botanist and surgeon with the East India Company, undertook extensive expeditions across Assam, Burma, Afghanistan, and the Eastern Himalayas. His colleague John McClelland edited and prepared his manuscripts and specimens for publication after his untimely death in 1845. Each part of the Icones Plantarum Asiaticarum focuses on a specific group of plants: Part I presents the structure and development of flowering plant organs; Part II describes higher cryptogams, including ferns and mosses; Part III covers monocots, such as grasses and orchids; and Part IV, the largest, documents dicotyledonous plants. offers an in-depth visual and scientific study of the reproductive and vegetative organs of Indian flowering plants. Griffith’s pioneering 1830s expeditions across Assam, Burma, Sikkim, and the Himalayas yielded an extensive herbarium and manuscript archives; this volume marks the beginning of a state-sponsored programme to publish his findings in Calcutta under East India Company patronage

The lithographic plates—many executed by Serrao and Coshan from Griffith’s own drawings—offer remarkable botanical accuracy and aesthetic quality, exemplifying mid-19th-century colonial scientific endeavour. The text includes detailed taxonomic descriptions, botanical terminology, and critical observations of plant morphology, intended as foundational reference material for Indian and global botanists.

Issued irregularly between 1847 and 1854, complete sets are rare, and this one-volume binding represents an unusual and desirable format. This volume remains a seminal contribution to early formal botanical illustration and classification in colonial Asia.

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