HOOKER, William Jackson.
(1785 – 1865)
Biographical references: Allibone, Dictionary of English Literature, 1859-71. • BBA: I 569, 200-231. • Boase, Modern English Biography, 1892-1921. • Catalogue of Portraits of Naturalists: 597 [14 portraits listed]. • WBI.
1. English, 1811 [First edition].
Journal | of a | Tour In Iceland | in | The Summer | of | 1809. | [double rule] | By | William Jackson Hooker, F.L.S. | And | Fellow Of The Wernerian Society Of | Edinburgh. | [double rule] | Yarmouth: | Printed by J. Keymer, King-Street. | [short rule] | 1811. | [double rule] | Not Published.
8°: lxii, 496, [7] p., colored frontispiece, illustrations, 2 plates (one folding).
Rare. Published in only 500 copies, this privately circulated edition of Hooker's Journal describes the natural wonders of the island of Iceland, and most particularly the botany of that remarkable land. Of independent means, Hooker was able to travel and to take up as a recreation the study of natural history, especially ornithology and entomology; however, he subsequently confined his attention to botany. In the summer of 1809 he made his first botanical expedition to Iceland, but the natural history specimens which he collected, together with his notes and drawings, were lost on the homeward voyage through the burning of the ship, and the young botanist himself was lucky to escape with his life. His good memory, however, allowed Hooker to publish an account of the island, and of its inhabitants and flora as Journal of a Tour in Iceland, which was privately circulated in 1811, and reprinted in an expanded edition in 1813.
Bibliographical references: BL. • LKG: XIV 45.
2. English, 1813 [2nd edition].
Journal of a tour in Iceland in the summer of 1809. By William Jackson Hooker ... 2nd edition, with additions ... London, Printed for Longmann, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1813.
2 vols. [Vol 1] 8°: [6], vi, cvi, 369 p., frontispiece (hand-colored). [Vol 2] 8°: [2], 391, [15] p., 3 maps and 4 plates (many folding).
Very scarce. Enlarged second edition, including maps and plates not present in the first edition. Contains a list of Icelandic plants, large sections on volcanoes, geysers, etc.
Appendicies: A. Detail of the Icelandic revolution in 1809. B. Proclamations, letters, and other documents, relative to the Icelandic revolution. C. Account of Heckla; with ... other remarkable volcanic mountains of Iceland. D. Odes and letters presented by the literati of Iceland to the Right Honorable Sir Joseph Banks and the Honorable Captian Jones. E. Icelandic plants. F. Danish ordinances concerning the trade of Iceland by land and sea.
Bibliographical references: LKG: XIV 45b. • NUC.
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