77 Stand 21 John Hill. Decade di alberi curiosi ed eleganti piante delle Indie Orientali, e dell’America … In Roma 1786, nella Stamperia Salomoni. 4to. 4 unn. ll., 31, (1) pages. With  10  hand-colored  engraved  plates.  Slightly  later (about 1820) green half-morocco. Slight marginal foxing, otherwise  a  very  good  copy  with  the  plates  in  bright coloring. € 2.200,- First Italian edition and only book by this botanist translated into Italian. The English original appeared in 1773 in larger size. John Hill (Peterborough 1707 – London 1775) was “well known for his literary entanglements  and  voluminous  publications  in  science.  Although these include works on medicine, zoology and mineralogy, the majority are concerned with botany. As an apothecary Hill developed an interest in plants as a means of supplementing his income, both by collecting for others and by concocting assorted herb remedies which he offered for sale ... His first major publication in botany appeared as a part of the three-volume ‘General Natural History’ (1748 -1752). In the second volume (1751), devoted to the plant kingdom, Hill introduced the classification system of Linnaeus in England. Several popular or semi- popular works on plants followed. Many were essentially handbooks for gardeners or, like the ‘Useful family herbal’ (1756) and his twenty- six volume compendium ‘Vegetable system’ (1759-1773), are works in taxonomic and descriptive botany intended, at least in part, for the scholarly botanist. Hill’s classification, although basically Linnaean, shows the influence of Rivinus (Augustus Quirinus Bachman) in the use of the corolla as a basis for some classes.“ (DSB). The present work contains allegedly the first descriptions of ten plants originating in Asia and America, but this is not completely true because it includes the description of a Dionea, i. e. a carnivorous plant which already described by Ellis in 1770. The plants are described accurately and indications on their pharmaceutical use are often provided. The plates are re-engraved from the English originals and are not late issues of the original matrixes. The Linnaean System had already been introduced to Italy by Micheli in Florence, and the last plant described by Hill is (possibly not accidentally) a variety of Michelia. DSB VI, pages 400-401; Hunt 679; Nissen BBI 878; Pritzel 4076; Henrey II, pages 102 ff. (with illustration). Alexander  von  Humboldt  Autograph  letter,  signed, written in Berlin, the 5th of April, 1839 and addressed to Antoine Serres, a medical doctor, in order to introduce to him a Dr. Quincke, a young doctor travelling through Europe with the aim to visit scientific institutions. 23x26 cm,  folded.  Page  1  Humboldt‘s  letter;  page  3  a  letter, slightly later (about 1840), signed „Andrè“. Bottom left of p. 1 is added in a different hand „Lettre adressée au Dr. Serres à Paris“. € 700,- Friedrich Heinrich Alexander, Baron von Humboldt (14 September 1769 - 6 May 1859), a German naturalist and traveller, has been one of the gratest scientists of his time. To become a scientific explorer he studied commerce and foreign languages, geology, anatomy, astronomy and the of scientific instruments. He may justly be regarded as having laid the foundation in their larger bearings of the sciences of physical geography and meteorology. An exhaustive biography was published by  Professor  Karl  Bruhns  (3  vols.,  8vo,  Leipzig,  1872).  Antoine- Etienne Renaud Augustin Serres (1786-1868) was a French medical doctor, comparative anatomist and professor of comparative anatomy; inspector of the Hôtel-Dieu in 1812, chief doctor of the Hôpital de la Pitiè in 1822 and about 1839 (when the letter was written), Professor of anatomy and human natural history at the Muséum du Jardin des Plantes in Paris, possibly the institution that the young dr. Quincke was eager to visit. Dr. Hermann Quincke (2 October 1808 - between November 1841 and August 1842) a medical doctor, studied in Bonn and Berlin. He travelled to Russia and, some years later, to France, Italy and England. He published a work about children‘s illnesses (Berlin, 1829). „André“, possibly an acquaintance of Dr. Serres, sends to a friend, obviously an autographs collector, Humboldt‘s letter as a present: „... pour augmenter votre collection, un autographe de M. de  Humboldt  qui  aura,  je  l‘espère,  quelque  merite  à  vos  yeux  ...“. Humboldt was already a celebrity worth collecting! It would be quite interesting to identify „Andrè“ as well as his elusive friend.