Concise Notices of the Indigenous Grasses of Ireland, Best Suited for Agriculture, with Dried Specimens of Each Kind by MOORE (David)

[Mullingar: Printed by R. Purdue,] 1843. First edition, small folio (310 x 195 mm), [2], 8, 36 leaves of botanical drying paper containing 48 mounted specimens, each with two letterpress labels, the smaller beneath the specimen, the larger (with a detailed description printed within a greek key decorative border) on the verso facing the specimen, collated complete with all specimens (though some are in the wrong order, i.e. no. 48 is between no. 3 and no. 4 plus a couple of similar instances), cont. cloth-backed marbled boards, rather worn, marbled paper almost completely gone from rear board, orig. green printed title label on upper cover (a little chipped and stained), internally in excellent condition, with only slight signs of foxing and all specimens intact. The rare first edition of this most appealing publication. There is no formal imprint (though Glasnevin is sometimes taken from Moore's statement that he is Curator of the Royal Dublin Society's Botanic Garden, Glasnevin, and the work must have been self published. The second and third editions have a commercial imprint and don't look nearly as attractive and are also much more common. Such books as this are particularly rare due to the immense labour involved in their publication, and only a few copies were produced.