Bibliotheca Botanica
Encyclopedia
Bibliotheca Botanica (Amsterdam, 1736, Salomen Schouten; 2nd edn., 1751) was written by Swedish botanist, physician
, zoologist and naturalist
Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778). The book was written and published in Amsterdam when Linnaeus was twenty-eight and dedicated to the botanist Johannes Burman
(1707–1779). The first edition appeared in 1735 with the full title Bibliotheca Botanica recensens libros plus mille de plantis huc usque editos secundum systema auctorum naturale in classes, ordines, genera et species; it was an elaborate classification system for his catalogue of books.
The Preface, dated 8 August 1735, on pages 2–19 contains Linnaeus’s extended account of botanical history in the form of a botanical analogy, in pages 2–3 Linnaeus lists previous bibliographers and then gives his account of botanical history leading to a golden age lasting from 1683 to 1703 (see also Incrementa Botanices, Biuur 1753 and Reformatio Botanices, Reftelius, 1762, for other historical notes by Linnaeus). The Preface mentions that Bibliotheca Botanica was the first part of a planned Bibliotheca medica (which he did not produce).
A digest of Bibliotheca Botanica, which elaborated on the first chapter of the Fundamenta Botanica
is given in Aphorisms 5–52 of the Philosophia Botanica.
Linnaean authority Frans Stafleu
describes the book as follows:
, German physician and botanist Augustus Quirinus Rivinus
, and a French physician, botanist, and traveller Joseph Pitton de Tournefort
.
Botanical bibliography effectively began, as did bibliography in general, with the work of the sixteenth century Swiss natural historian and polymath Conrad Gesner (1516–65). His Bibliotheca Universalis, a general compendium of some 12,000 items in Latin, Greek or Hebrew arranged by authors’ forenames, appeared in 1545 as an attempt to bring some order into the rapidly increasing range of literature consequent to the Renaissance and the introduction of printing.
The Bibliotheca Botanica was the first botanical bibliography arranged by subject. The titles were arranged hierarchically into 16 classes or chapters – each with one or more ordines or sections. Applying this methodus naturalis to books and people was a mark of his ‘scholastic’ view of the world. Most subsequent classifications of botanical literature, including geographical entities, would be more or less empirically based highlighting a recurrent conflict between essentialism
, empiricism
, nominalism
and other doctrines in the theory and practice of any kind of classification.
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
, zoologist and naturalist
Naturalist
Naturalist may refer to:* Practitioner of natural history* Conservationist* Advocate of naturalism * Naturalist , autobiography-See also:* The American Naturalist, periodical* Naturalism...
Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778). The book was written and published in Amsterdam when Linnaeus was twenty-eight and dedicated to the botanist Johannes Burman
Johannes Burman
Johannes Burman , was a Dutch botanist and physician. Burman specialized in plants from Ceylon, Amboina and Cape Colony. The name Pelargonium was introduced by Johannes Burman....
(1707–1779). The first edition appeared in 1735 with the full title Bibliotheca Botanica recensens libros plus mille de plantis huc usque editos secundum systema auctorum naturale in classes, ordines, genera et species; it was an elaborate classification system for his catalogue of books.
The Preface, dated 8 August 1735, on pages 2–19 contains Linnaeus’s extended account of botanical history in the form of a botanical analogy, in pages 2–3 Linnaeus lists previous bibliographers and then gives his account of botanical history leading to a golden age lasting from 1683 to 1703 (see also Incrementa Botanices, Biuur 1753 and Reformatio Botanices, Reftelius, 1762, for other historical notes by Linnaeus). The Preface mentions that Bibliotheca Botanica was the first part of a planned Bibliotheca medica (which he did not produce).
A digest of Bibliotheca Botanica, which elaborated on the first chapter of the Fundamenta Botanica
Fundamenta Botanica
Fundamenta Botanica was one of the major works of the Swedish botanist, zoologist and physician Carl Linnaeus and issued both as a separate work and part of the Bibliotheca Botanica.This book states, for the first time, Linnaeus's ideas for the reformation of botanical taxonomy...
is given in Aphorisms 5–52 of the Philosophia Botanica.
Linnaean authority Frans Stafleu
Frans Stafleu
Frans Antonie Stafleu was a Dutch systematic botanist, former Chair of the Institute of Systematic Botany at the University of Utrecht, and author of Taxonomic Literature: A Selective Guide to Botanical Publications and Collections, with Dates, Commentaries, and Types along with 644 other...
describes the book as follows:
Botanical bibliographies
The term “methodists” (methodici, equivalent to present-day systematists) was coined by Linnaeus in his Bibliotheca Botanica to denote the authors who care about the principles of classification in contrast to the mere collectors who are concerned primarily with the description of plants paying little or no attention to their arrangement into genera etc. For Linnaeus the important early methodists were Italian physician and botanist Andrea Caesalpino, the English naturalist John RayJohn Ray
John Ray was an English naturalist, sometimes referred to as the father of English natural history. Until 1670, he wrote his name as John Wray. From then on, he used 'Ray', after "having ascertained that such had been the practice of his family before him".He published important works on botany,...
, German physician and botanist Augustus Quirinus Rivinus
Augustus Quirinus Rivinus
Augustus Quirinus Rivinus , also known as August Bachmann, was a German physician and botanist.He was born in Leipzig, Germany, and studied at the University of Leipzig , continued his studies in the University of Helmstedt...
, and a French physician, botanist, and traveller Joseph Pitton de Tournefort
Joseph Pitton de Tournefort
Joseph Pitton de Tournefort was a French botanist, notable as the first to make a clear definition of the concept of genus for plants.- Biography :...
.
Botanical bibliography effectively began, as did bibliography in general, with the work of the sixteenth century Swiss natural historian and polymath Conrad Gesner (1516–65). His Bibliotheca Universalis, a general compendium of some 12,000 items in Latin, Greek or Hebrew arranged by authors’ forenames, appeared in 1545 as an attempt to bring some order into the rapidly increasing range of literature consequent to the Renaissance and the introduction of printing.
The Bibliotheca Botanica was the first botanical bibliography arranged by subject. The titles were arranged hierarchically into 16 classes or chapters – each with one or more ordines or sections. Applying this methodus naturalis to books and people was a mark of his ‘scholastic’ view of the world. Most subsequent classifications of botanical literature, including geographical entities, would be more or less empirically based highlighting a recurrent conflict between essentialism
Essentialism
In philosophy, essentialism is the view that, for any specific kind of entity, there is a set of characteristics or properties all of which any entity of that kind must possess. Therefore all things can be precisely defined or described...
, empiricism
Empiricism
Empiricism is a theory of knowledge that asserts that knowledge comes only or primarily via sensory experience. One of several views of epistemology, the study of human knowledge, along with rationalism, idealism and historicism, empiricism emphasizes the role of experience and evidence,...
, nominalism
Nominalism
Nominalism is a metaphysical view in philosophy according to which general or abstract terms and predicates exist, while universals or abstract objects, which are sometimes thought to correspond to these terms, do not exist. Thus, there are at least two main versions of nominalism...
and other doctrines in the theory and practice of any kind of classification.