Bidspirit auction | [HISTORY] - MICHELI Pietro Antonio

[HISTORY] - MICHELI Pietro Antonio (Florence, 1679 - ib., 1737) - “The Birth of Modern Mycology” - MICHELI, Pietro Antonio. Nova plantarum genera juxta Tournefortii methodum disposita. Florence, Bernardo Paperini, 1729. Folio (290 x 230 mm). [24], 232 pp. With engraved allegorical vignette on title-page and 108 full-page engraved plates. Contemporary vellum, manuscript title on spine, edges sprinkled red. First edition of Micheli’s landmark treatise in botany and mycology, introducing nearly 1,400 new genera, with pioneering descriptions of fungi, lichens, and mosses. Micheli, director of the Botanic Garden of Florence, was the first to demonstrate the reproductive function of fungal spores—an epoch-making discovery that secured his reputation as the founder of modern mycology. A complete copy with 108 plates, in excellent condition. The addenda leaf pp. 233/234 (preceding the plates) is not present here, as in many early copies. Plates crisp and well preserved, binding clean and solid.