A History of British Birds by MORRIS, Rev. Francis Orpen - 1840

London: Paternoster Row: Groombridge and Sons, 1864. Hardcover. Very Good. 4to - over 9¾ - 12" tall. MORRIS F.O.. With One Hundred & Fifty Four coloured plates Two volumes in purple cloth, corners rubbed. Spines, gilt titles & library nos, edges bumped. Internally Vol 1, 1864, frontis, [2], (iv), [1], 2-156 pp, 78 pls (coloured), short notice bound in, short tear at spine base. Vol 2, 1864, frontis, (iv), [1], 2-148 pp, 76 pls (coloured). 55 Nests are displayed. Part of the Henry Watterson Memorial collection of the Louisville Free Public Library, book plates & library markings. Plates, photo's and illustrations stamped "Louisville Free Public Library" to lower corner. 247*151 mm).

London: York Street, Covent Garden: George Bell and Sons, 1870. 2nd Edition . Hardcover. Very Good. 4to - over 9¾ - 12" tall. MORRIS FO. 6 complete volumes, attractive gilt bird images, 2nd edition, 1870, 365 hand coloured plates (as called for). VG+ in the publishers green embossed cloth, spines with gilt titles & decorative tooling, edges lightly bumped. Armorial bookplates to fpds & feps (Platt), some light edge browning. Adverts dated February 1883. (250*174 mm). Morris' books were mostly published by Groombridge & Sons, of London. His first best-seller was A History of British Birds which was published from June 1850 in monthly parts over a period of some seven years. Each folio consisted of text and 4 hand-coloured plates. Initially only a thousand copies were printed.