Nemours, Lestot, 1922. 8vo (23.6 x 15.6 cm). 342 pp.; 37 text figures, 16 collotype plates based on the author's photographs, double-page map. Later full cloth. Spine with morocco label with gilt title. Original printed wrappers bound in.

A rare work by the French botanist, cryptogamist and ecologist Pierre Allorge (1891-1944) printed in small numbers. Allorge was a member of the French Botanical Society of which he became president in 1913. In 1922 he presented his doctoral thesis in natural sciences, entitled Les Associations Nationaux du Vexin Français [this paper] at the University of Paris. In 1930, Allorge was one of the founders of the Station Internationale de Géobotanique Méditerranéenne et Alpine de Montpellier [International Station of Mediterranean and Alpine Geobotany in Montpellier]. He became full professor of cryptogamy at the Natural History Museum in Paris in 1933. The French Vexin is a former province and a natural region of France, located in the north-west of Île-de-France and for a small part in Hauts-de-France, extended over the departments of Val-d'Oise, Yvelines and Oise (i.e., immediately west and northwest of Paris). Provenance: on the front wrapper a handwritten dedication by the author to Paul Biers, preparer at the Museum's cryptogamy laboratory, and a stamp "Bibliotheque J. Arènes". Attached is an autographed letter by another French botanist, Paul Jovet (1896-1991), signed and dated 31.VII.1968, with questions about the provenance, in particular how it changed hands from Biers to Arènes. An excellent copy. Stafleu and Cowan 1, p. 36.