Pierre‐Joseph Buc'hoz: did he deserve his bad reputation?

Summary A biography and critique of Pierre‐Joseph Buc'hoz (1731–1807) – lawyer, physician, mineralogist, naturalist, compiler and publisher – is provided. Often criticised as being a mass‐plagiariser, this is commented on, based on a detailed examination of several of his publications. Buc'hoz's publications are reassessed, emphasizing that his uncompleted multi‐volume Histoire Universelle du Règne Végétal … (1773–1780, published up to mid‐way through the letter P in volume 13 of the Discours ) was so advanced, being a much more expansive, and detailed, precursor to Lamarck's Encyclopédie Méthodie. Botanique … (1783–1817). Estimates vary as to the quantity of published works to be credited to Buc'hoz, especially as his own catalogues were rarely complete, and no complete bibliography has yet been compiled. An upper estimate, of 500 works, was provided by Pritzel, these having been published between 1758 and 1807. There is evidence that many illustrations were copied, again and again and again, although some of these were from works he originally commissioned, others were based on engravings he owned; yet more were clearly blatant copies (sometimes mirror, or highly edited, copies) of much earlier works. Examples of some of these are illustrated. Many of the educational works have much to commend themselves, especially for the audience of the time. Originally Buc'hoz published many works by subscription, which were printed by well‐known Parisian publishing houses of the day. From the late 1770s he published his own works and, when he became less capable, his (second) wife continued to publish and sell later volumes. A blatant self‐publicist, he rarely made much money from sales of his works, although it is clear that he was quite prepared to sink a vast fortune into some, commissioning some of the better‐known botanical artists of the day to illustrate several, including his second wife, Marie‐Louise‐Sophie Nobillot. The text is supplemented by an extensive annotated bibliography.