An Inaugural Discourse, delivered before the New-York Horticultural Society at their Anniversary Meeting, on the 31st of August, 1824 by Hosack, David - 1824

New York: Printed by J. Seymour, John-Street, 1824. First edition. 46pp. 1 vols. 8vo. Later brown cloth, title-page slightly chipped. First edition. 46pp. 1 vols. 8vo. Inscribed by Dr. Hosack. David Hosack (1769-1835), physician and botanist, founded in 1801 the Elgin Botanic Garden, the first public botanical garden in North America, on twenty acres on the site of the present Rockefeller Center. He was a founder of Bellevue Hospital in 1820 and was a foresighted advocate of public health and sanitation measures in New York City. For two decades he was one of the city's most prominent physicians and medical educators, late in his career embroiled in the politics of medical education; as a trusted physician, he had been present on the fateful day of Alexander Hamilton's duel with Aaron Burr, 11 July 1804 Hosack published A Catalogue of Plants contained in the Botanic Garden at Elgin (1806), was a founding member and first president of the New York Horticultural Society. As he had been also a founder of the New-York Historical Society and was at the time of publication its president, it is only natural that he would have inscribed a copy of the present work "Historical Society Library from D Hosack". In it, Hosack discusses the need for promotion of practical horticulture, and the benefits of cultivation of the grape and wine-making in America. American Imprints 16594; ANB 11, pp. 238-9; C.C. Robins, David Hosack Citizen of New York (1964)