First edition of the author's own epitome of his great flora of Switzerland, Historia Stirpium Indigenarum Helvetiae Inchoata (3 folio volumes with about 1000 pages, 1768). The Swiss physiologist, botanist and poet Albrecht von Haller (1708-1777) here gives a numbered list of 2490 Swiss plants, essentially the same as the 2486 in his monumental flora, but with only a brief list of morphological characteristics and references to the literature.
Linnaeus was still alive and completely dominated botanical nomenclature for centuries, so Haller's names were no doubt doomed regardless of their merits. This makes the present copy especially valuable and remarkable, because the annotations in the margins, and the manuscript index, appear to give the Linnean names. This makes it a striking fusion of the Linnean nomenclature and that of Haller himself.
With two 19th-century owners inscriptions, one on the front pastedown, the other on the title-page, each probably from a member of the Darbellay family. These two owners probably wrote the annotations in the margin throughout the book, which seem to have been written in two hands. The manuscript index at the end of the book in its turn appears to be written in a third hand. Some marginal stains, mostly in the middle of the book, small tear on pp. 81-82, neither affecting the text, corners slightly bumped, otherwise in good condition. BMC (NH) II, p. 774; Bradley I, p. 433; Burdet, Ouvrages, 629; Pritzel 3726; Stafleu & Cowan 2312; for the author: DSB VI, pp. 61-67; Hunt 535; Nissen BBI, p. 73.