Curiosities of Natural History [Vol. 1], Third Series

Small 8vo (20cm), x + 311, bound in brown half calf, original marbled blue and brown boards, later spine with red title block and gilt lettering and tooling. Newburgh library stamp to title page, most pages are a little grubby but without affecting the text.

The author, Francis Trevelyan Buckland (1826 - 1880), was an English surgeon turned naturalist. He was particularly interested in fishes and was a founding member of the acclimatisation society in Britain, an organisation that supported the introduction of new plants and animals as food sources. He adopted his interest in consuming exotic meats from his father, the theologian William Buckland. Short-time editor of the outdoor sporting magazine The Field, Frank wrote multiple popular works on natural history, but did not appreciate the honour of having some of his writings used in Charles Darwin's Descent of Man, since he was opposed to Darwin's theory of evolution.

Frank Buckland was practically minded, having gained much of his natural history knowledge from first-hand experience and championing the close observation of animals in their natural habitats in order to understand them better for sporting purposes. Curiosities of Natural History is a collection of anecdotes detailing the author's personal experience with his subjects. It encompasses historical antiquities and minerals as well as merely the plant and animal kingdoms included under today's conception of natural history.