MICHAUX, François-Andre (1770-1855). The North American Sylva. Paris: C. d'Hautel, 1819. 3 volumes, 8vo (249 x 160 mm). Half-titles, 156 color stipple-engraved plates and finished by hand by Gabriel, Bessin, Renard, Cailly, and others after Pancrace Bessa, Pierre-Joseph Redoute, and Henri-Joseph Redoute. (Mostly marginal spotting, light toning to a few plates vol. III, gutter margin reinforced between pp.2-3 vol. III.) Contemporary half green calf backed marbled boards, spines in 5 compartments with 4 raised bands decorated in gilt and blind, red morocco lettering pieces gilt (rebacked preserving original spines and endpapers, rubbing to extremities). FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH, translated by A.L. Hillhouse, containing the findings of François-Andre Michaux and his father Andre, who explored the southern Appalachians, Spanish Florida, the Bahamas, the Carolinas, and the midwest, as well as Canada (including Hudson's Bay). The first edition contained 138 plates, and the present edition was enlarged to include 156 plates from the drawings by Pancrace Bessa (1772-1846), Pierre-Joseph Redoute (1759-1840), and Henri-Joseph Redoute (1776-1852). The work remained the definitive text on the subject until the publication of Charles Singer Sargent's Silva of North America (1891-1902). Sabin notes that of the English editions "this, notwithstanding some typographical errors, is the best." Sabin 48694.