Rare books from Natural History Books

London: James Ridgeway, 1820-1830. First edition.. Occasional mild offsetting from a few plates, some age toning to a few of the title pages, slight wear to the original boards, the text and beautiful hand-colored plates are bright and clean without foxing or browning, a tight, very good copy.. Pp. (x), (200), (5, index), (2, errata); (iv), (200), (8, index); (iv), (200), (10, index); (ii), (200), (12, index); (2), (200), (4, index); 500 full-page hand-colored plates, 100 plates per volume, engraved by S. Watts after E.D. Smith, each accompanied by a leaf of descriptive text. Later half green calf with 5 raised bands and black morocco title and volume labels over original marbled boards, lg 8vo. One of the truly great flower books of the early 19th century with superb hand-colored plates. Rare as a complete set; volume 5 is considered the supplement volume and is often not found with this set. See Sitwell - Fine Flower Books, p. 141, Nissen, BBI, p. 178.

Londini: Joannis Martyn, 1676. First edition.. There is a touch of faint foxing to a few of the text pages, the fine engraved plates are all very bright and clean, the original vellum is lightly soiled, there is a faint scratch on the front cover and some discoloration along the bottom edge of the rear cover; this is a tight and clean copy in near fine condition.. Pp. 12, 307, (5, index); 77 full-page engraved plates, 2 text-figures, 2 tables. Publisher's original full cream-colored vellum over boards, spine with six raised bands lettered by hand in the second compartment, folio (15 3/8 x 9 3/8; 388 x 240 mm). This is the first edition, first issue with the title page printed in red and black and with the coat of arms of the Royal Society printed on the title page. This appears to the large paper copy, printed on thick and fine paper, the size of the cut copy is 15 3/8 x 9 3/4 as described by Mullens and Swann, p. 650-651. This first printing is also called the Widow's Edition as it was… Read More

London: Published by the author, 1876-1880. First edition.. Light scattered foxing to the blank endpapers only, margin of inside corner missing from one text page; the fine binding, the text and hand-colored plates are all very bright and clean with no signs of use; an extraordinary copy in fine condition.. Pp. i-cviii, 1-393; 121 hand-colored lithographs by Keulemans, each heightened with gum Arabic. Contemporary one-half Victorian-red morocco over scarlet red cloth boards, spine with five raised bands, lettered in gilt in two compartments and with elaborate gilt floral decorations in the other four compartments, the title and author are lettered in gilt on the front board, top page edge in gilt, contemporary red marbled endpapers, lg 4to (13 x 10.25 inches; 33 x 25.5 cm). "An excellent monograph of an interesting family of birds, with descriptions in Latin and English, critical notes, and discussions of habits, etc., from accounts by many different observers. A total of 138 species of the… Read More

London: Published by the editors, F. DuCane Godman and Osbert Salvin, 1885-1902. First edition. The cloth binding, text and the lithographic plates of the Reptilia and Batrachia volume are all very bright and clean with few signs of use, the printed wrappers for the prospectus of the series bound in at the rear are edge-worn and a bit soiled; a tight and clean copy in near fine condition.. Pp. i-xx, 1-326; 76 full page lithographed plates by James Green, Mintern Brothers and Peter J. Smith (4 are hand-colored, 8 are chromolithographs with some retouched by hand-coloring; the remainder are fine half-tone lithographs). One-half maroon-red cloth, lettered in gilt on the spine, over olive green cloth boards, thick sm folio (12.5 x 10.25 inches; 32 x 26 cm). Bound in at the rear of the volume is the 47 page prospectus for the entire Biologia Centrali-Americana series covering zoology, botany and archaeology in the original printed pale-green wrappers. This prospectus includes an un-colored bird plate… Read More

Paris: Guillaume Cavellat, 1555. First edition.. Two pages have small marginal tears to paper with no effect to the text, the front attached endpaper has two old creases from the board that extend into the first section of the text, all of the text-pages and woodcuts are very bright and clean; a tight and clean copy in near fine condition.. Pp. (28), 381, (1, colophon); general title and six divisional titles each with a large woodcut device, 161 woodcuts in the text, including a portrait of the author, 2 skeletons, and 158 large cuts of birds. Eighteenth-century brown one-quarter calf leather over sprinkled paper-covered boards (the boards are likely the original due to a faint imprint of another cover beneath the sprinkled paper and due to fact that the book is sewn on alum-tawed thongs laced into the boards), tall 4to (13 x 9 inches). Belon's L'Histoire is "one of the earliest books dealing entirely with birds" (Ayer, Zimmer, p. 52). The present volume was intended as a… Read More

Lyons: Matthias Bonhomme, 1554, 1555. First edition.. The title-page is a bit worn and soiled, there are short and faint tidemarks confined to some outer margins, there are early ink marginalia in Latin on some pages; an extra illustration has been pasted on to page 238, the period binding is very attractive; a tight copy in very good condition.. Pp. (16), 583, (25); (12), 242, (10); 429 woodcuts from the designs of Georges Reverdi featuring 2 portraits of the author, numerous fishes, shells, crabs, crocodiles, serpents, turtles and other sea creatures. In period-style late 19th century brown polished calf leather, spine with six raised bands, lettered in gilt in one compartment, blind-stamped decorations to the front and rear boards, folio (13 3/4 x 8 1/2 inches). This is the first edition of Rondelet's towering achievement in the study of ichthyology and all varieties of aquatic life. "In this work, which covers all marine and freshwater zoology, Rondelet relied heavily on classical… Read More

Sydney: Printed for the author by Thomas Richards, Government Printer, 1869. First edition.. Light scuffing to the leather on outer corners and along the head and foot of the spine; a remarkably well-preserved bright and clean copy in near fine condition in a fine cloth-covered clamshell box.. Pp. i-xxv + (1)-100; 12 hand-colored lithographic plates. Publisher's original one-half grayish-brown polished calf leather, spine with 5 raised bands, one compartment has a red morocco title/author label lettered in gilt, over gray marbled boards, housed in gray cloth-covered custom-made clamshell box, lettered in gilt on the spine on a black morocco title label, 4to (12 x 9.25 inches; 300 x 238 mm). Only 700 copies of this book were issued; most copies did not have all of the plates hand-colored as seen in this volume. This is Krefft's herpetological magnum opus, the first major treatise exclusively about Australian reptiles. It was produced wholly in Australia and was up to the best standards of… Read More

London: published and sold by the Author, (1770-) 1777. First edition.. The frontispiece is lightly foxed, the 2nd and 76th colored plates show slight flaking of the green pigmentation, occasional offsetting from some uncolored plates onto the facing text leaves, a few faint mars to the outer leather boards, this large attractively-bound volume weighs about 40 pounds; a bright, clean copy in near fine condition.. Pp. (120), engraved emblematic frontispiece, engraved title, subscriber's list, with 108 fine hand-colored engraved plates heightened with gum Arabic (4 hand-colored engraved plates of leaf shapes + 104 hand-colored engraved plates of flowers) and 108 uncolored plates printed in black (all plates in this work appear in two states, one state is hand-colored and the other is monochrome). Bound to style by the Studio Bindery of Kingston-on-Thames, Surrey, England, in speckled calf, the covers paneled in blind with on-laid light brown speckled panel surrounding a central area cross-hatched… Read More

London: B. White, 1776. First edition.. Spines of both volumes lightly sunned, some soiling to a few page edges in the proof copy, the fine hand-colored plates are bright and clean and very well-colored, a tight and bright set in identical bindings in near fine condition.. Pp. (8), 1-136, 50 hand-colored lithograph plates + Pp. (8), 50 monochrome lithograph plates, pp. 1-136. Early 20th century full calf leather, spine with five raised bands, lettered in gilt in one compartment on a red morocco title label and with elaborate gilt decorations in the other five compartments, base of spine of each volume has gilt-lettered date of publication, 1776, the word PROOF appears in gilt on the uncolored copy at the spine base, front and rear boards with gilt decorations around the borders and with central gilt motif, lg 4to (12 x 10 inches; 310 x 252 mm). The text of both volumes in simultaneously presented in parallel in French and in English. The page edges are deckled (untrimmed) in the monochrome proof… Read More

Nuremberg: Johann Joseph Fleischmann, 1758. First edition.. A very bright and clean copy with brilliant hand-colored plates, outer corners a little rubbed, in near fine condition in a new clamshell cloth-covered box.. Pp. (10), viii, 116, 48 engraved plates (24 are hand-colored each with a matching uncolored key plate), 1 hand-colored frontispiece, engraved title page, 8 engraved headpieces in the text. Contemporary mottled calf, probably German, spine with 7 raised bands, gilt-lettered on red morocco label in one compartment and with a repeating emblematic gilt-scene showing St. Francis in the other 7 compartments, folio (17.5 x 12 inches), in black cloth-covered clamshell box with gilt title/author label on the box spine. "The present volume is one of the classics of amphibiology. The illustrations are of the finest and the whole work is admirably done. The title and text appear both in Latin and German and there is a preface by A. von Haller--altogether a very valuable, early… Read More

London: Henry Sotheran and Company, 1887. First edition.. A fine copy with brilliant hand-colored plates in a fine Morocco leather binding.. Pp. (vii), (199); 58 hand-colored lithographs of hummingbirds by John Gould and/or W. Hart, each with a descriptive leaf of text. Full green Morocco leather, spine with five bands, lettered in gilt on two red Morocco title/author labels in two compartments and elaborate gilt-decorations in the four other compartments, front and rear covers with elaborate wide bands of gilt floral designs, outer board edges with single wavy gilt line and gilt turn-ins featuring the same wide band of gilt floral designs, this time framing the dark green silk endpapers, all page edges in gilt, large folio (22 x 14.5 inches). This supplement volume was published in 5 parts of which Part I appeared in 1880, Part II in 1881, Part III in 1883, Part IV in 1885 and Part V in 1887 which included the title page for the Supplement. Gould died after the first part had been issued, but… Read More

London: Henry Sotheran and Company, 1890. First edition.. Light foxing to the frontis matter only, all the fine hand-colored plates are bright and clean, a tight copy in near fine condition.. Pp. (vi), 54 hand-colored lithographed plates by J. Gould and W. Hart, heightened with gum Arabic. Each plate is accompanied by a descriptive leaf of text by Gould. Green one-half morocco by Sotheran over green cloth, spine and upper cover lettered in gilt and with gilt decorations and gilt panel lines, lg. folio (550 x 355mm, 21.7 x 14 inches). This handsome volume will be found to convey a very good idea of the great extent and variety of Asiatic Ornithology as it includes examples of both the larger and more splendid birds and the smaller and more common birds found in 'The Birds of Asia.' It also puts some of the most beautiful specimens of Gould’s artistic skill within the reach of the general public, since all of his works are now out of print (item no. 337 in Henry Sotheran Book… Read More

New York: D. Appleton, 1863. First edition.. A fine copy in a fine binding housed in a fine slipcase, a magnificent copy.. Pp. 1p: dedication to Philip Lutley Sclater, 1p: list of subscribers, 2p: preface, 14p: introduction, and with 31 fine hand-colored lithographic plates, heightened with gum arabic (24 plates are signed by Elliot, 4 plates by Paul Louis Oudart, 1 plate is by E. Maubert, 1 plate is by Mesnel, 1 plate is unsigned). Each plate is accompanied by 2-3 pages of descriptive text. Bound in later one-half green morocco leather over the original marbled boards with the original matching marbled endpapers, spine with 5 raised bands outlined by gilt panel lines, 2 compartments with red morocco labels lettered in gilt, all page edges in gilt, folio (21 7/16 x 13 5/8 inches), housed in a custom-made velvet-lined clam-shell box with a one-quarter green leather spine over burnt red cloth boards made by Brockman Bindery in the UK. This is the first edition of the first of D.G. Elliot’s… Read More

London: Bernard Quaritch, 1878 (1879). First edition.. The last five pages of the index of volume 1 with faint corner wrinkle, the top outer corner of the first six pages of volume 2 with a faint crease and some soiling, the text block and hand-colored plates are bright and clean without any foxing or browning, a tight copy in near fine condition in a very attractive binding.. Pp. (volume 1): (iv, (1, corrigenda dated 1879), (i)-xxv, (i, title page for Mammalia), 1-985; (volume 2): (iv, title page, half-title), (1, corrigenda), (1)-29 (index to plates), 85 full page lithographic plates (49 are hand-colored) many by Charles Berjeau, and J. G. Keulemans. One-half black leather over orange marbled boards with matching orange marbled endpapers, sm folio (13 x 10.5 inches; 33.5 x 26 cm). This massive two volume set documents two expeditions to northern Burma (Myanmar) and extreme western Yunnan in 1868 and 1875. The publication was limited to 250 copies only. John Anderson joined the 1868 expedition… Read More

Philadelphia: J. Dobson, 1842. Second edition.. Some occasional foxing to the text and to the title page of volume 5, fraying to the outer edge of plate 1 in volume 2, the fine hand-colored plates are bright and clean, a tight copy in very good condition.. Pp. xv, 17-152; vi, 9-142; ii, 3-128; vi, 7-136; vi, 5-118, (1, errata); with 147 hand-colored plates. Publisher’s original one-half dark red leather, spine with four raised bands, lettered in gilt in two compartments, over newer marbled boards, square 4to (11 3/4 x 10 1/2 inches). John Edwards Holbrook (1796–1871) was an American physician, zoologist, herpetologist, and naturalist. He is considered the Father of American Herpetology. According to Kraig Adler (History, p. 33), John Holbrook’s scientific reputation rests on his books “North American Herpetology” (first edition in four volumes, 1836-1840, second edition in five volumes, 1842, and “Ichthyology of South Carolina” (first edition, 1855-1857). In… Read More