Folio: Early South Carolina botanical and travel document eight-page folio entitled A SHORT HISTORY OF THE AGROSTIS CORNUCOPIAE, OR THE NEW AMERICAN GRASS; AND A NEW BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE PLANT. To which are added, Experiments to point out the Proper Mode of Cultivating this Plant; and also some account of a Journey to the Cherokee Nation, in search of New Plants.

First edition, privately printed for the author, London, 1789, with Sowerby botanical plate intact. Back page has a list of subscribers to Fraser's seeds. Among them is Thomas Jefferson, American Ambassador to the Court of France.

Other than this example, there are twelve known copies extant of this document in public hands.


Other Notes: John Fraser (1750-1811), botanist, was born in Inverness-shire, Scotland. Species named after John Fraser include Abies fraseri (Fraser Fir) and Magnolia fraseri (Fraser Magnolia). Fraser landed in Charleston, South Carolina on September 20, 1786. During his visit he became the traveling companion of the famed botanist, Andre Michaux (until Michaux's horses were stolen in the woods between Savannah and Augusta) and the business partner of pioneer botanist and planter, Thomas Walter (author, FLORA CAROLINIANA) prior to Walter's death in 1789. Both relationships are chronicled in THE SHORT HISTORY, as well as the text of a letter from Thomas Walter to Fraser dated in Santee, South Carolina, on February 18, 1788. Fraser traveled extensively through South Carolina from the Lowcountry through the Blue Mountains and into the Cherokee Nation. His portrayal of early America is in contrast to 18th century Europe and is both idealistic and prescient.

James Sowerby (1757-1822) was the first of a long line of natural history draughtsmen. He was a student of the Royal Academy Schools and was first apprenticed to the marine painter, Richard Wright. He did not produce his first botanical art until he was about thirty years old. He was discovered and first employed by L'Heritier, where he produced his first plate for L'Heritier's STRIPES NOVAE in 1784.

Sowerby went on to work for William Curtis and contributed about seventy plates to the initial volumes of the BOTANICAL MAGAZINE and about fifty to the fifth part of FLORA LONDINENSIS (1777-1798). He not only designed but engraved many of these plates. From 1790 onwards he was chiefly occupied in illustrating the works of Sir J. E. Smith and is usually associated in particular with the thirty-six volume ENGLISH BOTANY, for which Smith wrote the text. By the mid 1790's James Sowerby had established himself as perhaps the finest botanical artist in England.