Diagnoses algarum novarum. Post sylloges editionem descriptarum. I (Centuriae I-XI) [AND] II (Centuria I). [All published].

Brixia [Brescia], privately published by the author (and heirs?), 1937-1955. 12 parts in 12 (17.7 x 13.6 cm). 1200 pages. (Near) contemporary uniform brown cloth with gilt title on the spines. = An essential work on algae. Very rare and complete as it was privately printed "sumptibus auctoris" and divided in twelve "centuria". Published over a long period, it contains 1200 descriptions of different algae. The last published part is I(11), not II(1). It was published posthumously; there is a small cross printed in front of the author's printed name, Giuseppe de Toni (1907-1950). He was the son of the phytologist Joseph [= Giovanni Battista] de Toni (1864-1924). "By the end of the 19th century the huge numbers of additional names and a greater formalization of higher level taxonomy required a truly encyclopedic treatment. This was achieved by Giovanni Batista De Toni (1864-1924) in a series of comprehensive volumes entitled Sylloge algarum omnium hucusque cognitarum [Gathering of all algae hitherto known] published from 1889 to 1924 [including an account of the blue-green algae by Achille Italo Forti (1878-1937)]. Giuseppe De Toni . published Bibliographia algologica universalis in three fascicles (1931-1932), intended to supplement the Sylloge" (Cryptogamie dotcom). However, this is not the forementioned Bibliographica, but a separate work, and further continuation, on "new" algae. The Cryptogamie website states "No publication comparable to De Toni's Sylloge has since appeared", but this work is not mentioned. Bound in front of part I:3 is a one page note, stating "A supplement to DeToni's Sylloge. - Phycologists will welcome the first part of Giusppe de Toni's Supplement to his father's Sylloge Algarum". The work was printed on peculiar thick paper. Library stamps on the front pastedowns, shallow blind stamp on titles, otherwise a good, clean, complete set. Stafleu and Cowan, Supplement V, 30.017.