Description

Original bdg. In publisher's special slip-case. 4to. (35 x 25 cm). In English and Turkish. Many color and b/w plates. 2 volumes set: (1119 p.). In 1905, three frères (priest-teachers) at Saint Joseph High School in Constantinople - and their pupils began to collect plants from both sides of the Bosphorus, particularly around Kadiköy. Their aim was to create a comprehensive herbarium (plant collection). Before drying the first specimens, the frères classified them according to the biologic and botanic knowledge of the day, and then recorded this information on specially-prepared labels. The frères pursued their endeavour, despite occasional interruptions, until the mid-1970s. The result was a 2,253-specimen herbarium from Istanbul-Kadiköy and its environs: the first and only extant such collection. Continuing the European tradition of taking inventory of the natural world, these three valuable teachers at Saint Joseph conducted scientific research on the flora of Istanbul, a magnificent city that is the common heritage of human civilization, and then preserved the fruit of their labour for all of humanity. This unique plant collection lay dormant in Saint Joseph High School until it was unearthed by Professor Mehmet Sakinç. Devoting long years to studying the collection's 2,253 specimens in light of new scientific developments, Professor Sakinç identified 1006 distinct species - all of which appear in this book under 436 genus and 87 families.