THE NORTH AMERICAN SYLVA; OR, A DESCRIPTION OF THE FOREST TREES OF THE UNITED STATES, CANADA, AND NOVA SCOTIA...

Philadelphia: W. M. Rutter & Co., 1871. Later Edition. Hardcover. Ex-Library but with minimal markings: labels and stamps on spine, blindstamp and small ink number to title pages; frontispiece portrait of Michaux trimmed and pasted on the front pastedown of the third volume. Plates generally clean with light foxing to maybe 10% of them, mostly in the Michaux volumes. Bindings firm with the two Nuttall volumes having clear tape over the spines. Overall Very Good. Six quarto (6-3/4" x 10-3/4") volumes bound in publisher's brown half-morocco leather with matching corners and marbled boards. Illustrated with 277 beautiful hand-colored plates, comprised of 156 hand-colored copperplate engravings in the three Michaux volumes and 121 hand-colored lithographs in the three Nuttall volumes. The lithographs in the Nuttall volumes are numbered through 121, but the numbering skips plates 30 and 31 (also skipped in text), and two plates each are numbered "5" and "10," as issued. The most important work on American trees prior to 1900. Michaux's work was first published in 1817-19 with the plates engraved by Redoute and his associate, Bessa, and those plates are used in this edition. Nuttall's work first appeared in 1842-49 supplementing that of Michaux covering trees in the Rocky Mountains, the territory of Oregon, California, and other areas of the U.S. and employing the more advanced technique of lithography instead of engraving. One of the classics of American natural history. BENNETT, page 76; SABIN 48695: "It is no exaggeration to remark that it is the most complete work of its kind, and is a production of unrivalled interest and beauty."