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ROBERT WIGHT, Illustrations of Indian Botany or Figures Illustrative of Each of the Natural Orders of Indian Plants: Described in the Author's Prodromus Florae Peninsulae Indiae Orientalis with Observations, on their Botanical Relations, Economical Uses, and Medicinal Properties; Including Descriptions of Recently Discovered or Imperfectly Known Plants, Madras: J B Pharoah, 1840

Volume I: xi; ii; 212 pages including 97 hand-coloured lithographed plates (of 104); errata slip tipped-in; lacks 2 leaves of text at the end
Contemporary leather bound with gilt text on a black label at the front board and the spine
28.5 x 22.5 x 4.2 cm

Robert Wight's contribution in the study of Indian botany is considered to be immense. A Scottish surgeon in the East India Company, Wight spent over three decades working in India.

He was born in 1796 in Milton, East Lothian to a lawyer, and went on to study medicine at Edinburgh University. After qualifying in 1816, Wight became a ship's surgeon and undertook many voyages, including to the United States. Shortly after, he applied for a position in the East India Company in 1818 and was employed as an assistant surgeon. He was soon promoted to the position of a surgeon with the 33rd Regiment of the Company's Native Infantry.

In the meantime, Wight's interest in botany grew and he was put in charge of the gardens at Madras, which was followed by an appointment as naturalist to the Company. This allowed him to study and collect plants in southern India, many of which he sent to the botanist Sir William Hooker in Glasgow, as well as other European botanists. Wight also employed local artists, mainly Rungia and Govindoo, to illustrate the native flora, which was then published in six volumes as Icones Plantarum Indiae Orientalis (1838-1853). Unlike other British workers of the time, Wight gave credit to these artists and even named a genus of Orchid after Govindoo.

Wight's position in Madras did not last, and he was reassigned as garrison surgeon in Nagapattinam in 1828. Here, he continued his private study of Indian botany as well as in Tanjore (Thanjavur). In 1831, Wight was once again promoted to a surgeon, although he had to take a leave of absence after contracting a tropical fever.

Returning to Scotland with over 100,000 plant specimens, Wight continued his investigations in Indian botany. During this time, he worked on his richly illustrated Spicilegium Nilghiriense and the present lot, Illustrations of Indian Botany. Simultaneously, he had the help of Dr George Walker-Arnott, a professor of botany at the University of Glasgow, who studied his herbarium specimens. Together, the two published Prodromus Florae Peninsulae Indicae.

Within three years, Wight returned to India and continued his botanical interests. He published numerous articles in the Madras Journal of Literature and Science, and also helped edit E J Waring's Pharmacopoiea of India. In 1836, he took charge of the collections at the Peradeniya botanical gardens in Ceylon (Sri Lanka). Later that year, Wight was transferred to the Revenue Department, tasked with looking into the state of agriculture in southern India. In 1838, he oversaw the founding of the botanic garden of the Agri-Horticultural Society at Madras, and later served as superintendent of experimental cotton plantations at Coimbatore from 1842-1850.

In 1853, Wight moved to England and donated his entire Indian herbarium collection to Kew Gardens, which consisted of more than 4,000 different species. In recognition of his work, Wight was elected a Fellow of the Linnean Society and a member of the Imperial Academy. In 1855, he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society. Wightia, the genus of a flowering plant, is named after him.