In June 2024, the Geneva Botanic Garden acquired at auction in Paris an herbarium compiled by Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) in the 1770s for the enlightened printer and bookseller Charles-Joseph Panckoucke. It is one of the few surviving herbaria that Rousseau created for botany enthusiasts during the last ten years of his life to popularise the study of the plant world.

The exhibition will display several specimens from this herbarium, along with its catalogue, in the Library's display cases. These two items will be accompanied by botanical works and explanatory notes detailing the context of their creation.