SERIES OF PLATES REPRESENTING THE MOST EXTRAORDINARY AND INTERESTING by [MANSON, J.] - 1825

London: Darton & Harvey, 1805. Book. Very Good. Hardback. First Edition. 4to. pp. Additional engraved titles and 84 plates by J. Tookey after Ibbetson. Contemporary full leather bindings, rebacked preserving original spine, very good with a little general wear and rubbing, corners worn. Contents clean and tight, minimal foxing. A very good tight copy. Nissen 886.

Title, xxviii, 329 p.; xii, 373, 10 folding plates.
First French edition, greatly expanded from the 1767 edition. Fontana's extensive research on snake venom is considered the beginning of modern toxicology."A contribution to comparative zoology by one of the foremost anatomists of the eighteenth century" - Wood. p. 344

London: Printed for the author and sold by John Gray, 1742 A fair copy of the 1st edition in later half calf binding with 7 plates. A fascinating read today, being an account of a mixture of mythical and real animals - including descriptions of dragons. The binding is in good to very good condition with gilt titles and gilt ruled lines to spine and lightly marbled boards. There is some light scuffing and wear. There is an armorial bookplate to the front pastedown with the motto 'durum sed fortissimum' and the name 'Stones' to the top. The endpapers are also newer but the paper has been chosen to match the rest of the volume. Contents: title; dedication pp iii-v; to the reader pp vi-vii; directions to binder and errata 1p; list of subscribers ix-xxiii; text pt I pp 1-50; Pt II pp 51-166 with 7 plates; Part III pp 167-240; index 12 pp. With decorative head and tailpieces. Overall the text is very clean. The title has been relaid onto matching paper and has loss at all margins; the first… Read More

Isaacson's puffleg or long-billed puff-leg hummingbird, Eriocnemis isaacsoni.Now classified as a hybrid species, Eriocnemis sp. x Helianthea sp.Fine handcoloured lithograph by John Gould and Henry Richter from John Gould's famous Monograph of the Trochilidae, or Family of Hummingbirds, London, Volume IV, 1861. Henry Constantine Richter (1821-1902) was an English zoological illustrator who produced a large number of handcoloured lithographs of birds and mammals, mainly for the scientific books of the renowned English 19th century ornithologist John Gould. Gould was fascinated by hummingbirds and exhibited his extensive collection of 100s of these tiny birds in taxidermy cases at the Great Exhibition in London in 1851. The print (51cm x 34cm) is in very good condition, with very slight age toning overall, mounted in a cream-coloured French matt (71cm x 54cm).

Quarto (12 by 9 1/2 inches) San Francisco: John H. Carmany and Company, 1874. Original First Edition. 319 + v pages, hardcover, bound in original green pebble cloth, with title in gilt on spine, and gilt vignette of a seal on upper front cover; 27 lithographic plates drawn by the author, and printed by Britton and Rey, plus many other fine lithographs (a few drawn by another hand) of whaling equipment, seals, dolphins and porpoises. Neat nineteenth century inked gift inscription on front fly leaf; minor normal shelf wear (not affecting the overall content, or binding that are both in very good condition); index.

"This book is the classic work on whales and seals along the Pacific coast. Captain Scammon began his whaling career soon after his arrival in California in 1852. His carefully prepared work is the most comprehensive book on the subject, and he investigated all the then known species of Cetacea as well as the Pinnipedia. His text on the whale fishery takes up the last hundred plus pages of… Read More

London: Darton & Harvey, 1805. Book. Very Good. Hardback. First Edition. 4to. pp. Additional engraved titles and 84 plates by J. Tookey after Ibbetson. Contemporary full leather bindings, rebacked preserving original spine, very good with a little general wear and rubbing, corners worn. Contents clean and tight, minimal foxing. A very good tight copy. Nissen 886.

Phoenix. H. Walker Publishing Company. 1940 Bound in original titled wrappers. 4to. This Privately Printed Edition Limited to 300 numbered copies, of which this is #236. Signed by Barry Goldwater to Limitation page. Illustrated with a map and various drawings en texte. Very rare 1st Issue of Goldwater's renowned exploration of the Colorado and Green rivers, compiled from his personal diary of the journey. Covers reinforced with take along edges. Remnant of sticker to front cover ( not obscuring title).Internally, very crisp and clean.

Title, xxviii, 329 p.; xii, 373, 10 folding plates.
First French edition, greatly expanded from the 1767 edition. Fontana's extensive research on snake venom is considered the beginning of modern toxicology."A contribution to comparative zoology by one of the foremost anatomists of the eighteenth century" - Wood. p. 344

London: Printed for the author and sold by John Gray, 1742 A fair copy of the 1st edition in later half calf binding with 7 plates. A fascinating read today, being an account of a mixture of mythical and real animals - including descriptions of dragons. The binding is in good to very good condition with gilt titles and gilt ruled lines to spine and lightly marbled boards. There is some light scuffing and wear. There is an armorial bookplate to the front pastedown with the motto 'durum sed fortissimum' and the name 'Stones' to the top. The endpapers are also newer but the paper has been chosen to match the rest of the volume. Contents: title; dedication pp iii-v; to the reader pp vi-vii; directions to binder and errata 1p; list of subscribers ix-xxiii; text pt I pp 1-50; Pt II pp 51-166 with 7 plates; Part III pp 167-240; index 12 pp. With decorative head and tailpieces. Overall the text is very clean. The title has been relaid onto matching paper and has loss at all margins; the first… Read More

Isaacson's puffleg or long-billed puff-leg hummingbird, Eriocnemis isaacsoni.Now classified as a hybrid species, Eriocnemis sp. x Helianthea sp.Fine handcoloured lithograph by John Gould and Henry Richter from John Gould's famous Monograph of the Trochilidae, or Family of Hummingbirds, London, Volume IV, 1861. Henry Constantine Richter (1821-1902) was an English zoological illustrator who produced a large number of handcoloured lithographs of birds and mammals, mainly for the scientific books of the renowned English 19th century ornithologist John Gould. Gould was fascinated by hummingbirds and exhibited his extensive collection of 100s of these tiny birds in taxidermy cases at the Great Exhibition in London in 1851. The print (51cm x 34cm) is in very good condition, with very slight age toning overall, mounted in a cream-coloured French matt (71cm x 54cm).