Urocharis longicauda by John Gould - 1875-88: The Birds of New Guinea

Boston: Little, Brown and Company. First Edition . Cloth - Hard Cover. Good+/No Jacket. sm folio. Complete in four volumes, with all plates. All volumes have been professionally and very nicely rebacked, retaining original spine covers. Gilt on spine is good, though slightly faded on a few letters. Covers are lightly rubbed and show a little wear at corners in general, and along the lower edges of volume IV. Small book plate on top front paste down, and inked name on blank front free end page. Free end leaves show a few creases. Volumes remain tight and are otherwise clean and intact.

Folio (12" x 15"), publisher's leather, somewhat crudely rebacked, gilt title on front cover, illustrated with engraved frontispiece and 119 chromolithographed plates with tissue guards, 182, [8] pp. Binding shaken, top cover and spine and front endpapers partially separated from text block, back joint cracked, but still attached, significant wear to covers around extremities, bookplate on front pastedown; contents clean and bright. Published in several editions, the plates are extremely attractive. Studer (1840-1904) was born in New York City, and would become a printer and lithographer. He was also an ornithologist, and seems to have been active in this field in the Columbus, Ohio area after the Civil War. However, it is believed that the plates were based on drawings by Theodore Jasper. The plates while very attractive, are believed to be designed to help with identification. Size of book will require extra postage. online Cornell library website.

London: John Van Voorst, 1856. 531 pages, plus 145 (and two additional) colored plates, in two volumes. Half bound in dark green polished leather with raised spine bands and gilt lettering and decoration. Pebbled cloth over the boards. Marbled end leaves and edges. Heraldic book plate on front paste down of volume I. A little very light foxing and a few very light scuffs. A lovely set!. Third Edition. Half Leather - Hardbound. Very Good+/No Jacket.

London: R. H. Porter, 1905. First Edition . Half Leather - Hardbound. Good+/No Dust Jacket. Royal 8vo. Number 63 of a limited edition of 250 copies. 294 pages, plus 13 hand colored plates after H. Gronvold, one photogravure, one photographic plate, and one folding color map; 410 pages, plus two hand colored plates after H. Gronvold, one photogravure, one photographic plate, and one folding color map. Collated and complete. Half bound with Moroccan leather over spine and corners, and marbled paper over boards. Raised spine bands and gilt lettering on spine. Top edge of text blocks are gilded. Zimmer (1926) details the volumes as "a manual of Tunisian ornithology. Synonymy and short descriptions of the species are given, with observations on plumages and other variations and with notes on distribution and habits. A short bibliography is included and the introduction discusses the topography of the area in question..." Covers are rubbed and scuffed. Lettering on spine remains… Read More

Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, 1839. First Edition . Cloth - Hard Cover. Good/No Dust Jacket. 350 pages. Original cloth covered boards. Rebacked in a light brown cloth with gold stamped lettering. Original covers are scuffed, and worn along edges. New end leaves. At top of title page is inked "Halifax, Nova Scotia" and a name, possible Edward Bland, and a date of March 1852. There is scattered inked and pencil marginalia, all neat and non-intrusive. The contents are otherwise generally clean, though show light smudges and just a little light foxing. To the lower blank portion of the last page of text is sewn pages 65-68 of "The Mails for New York," and a notation that the date may be1853 or54. The article is titled "Birds of Bermuda" with a note that the names are taken from the currently listed title. This is followed by a single leaf (two page) insert from 1854 "Natural History" with an article titled "Description of a New Species of Bird… Read More

LONDON, THOMAS OSBORNE, 1751. FIRST EDITION, FOLIO. THIS IS VOLUME 2 OF HILL'S GENERAL NATURAL HISTORY, WHICH IS COMPLETE IN ITSELF. WITH 16 HAND-COLOURED COPPER ENGRAVINGS - A FEW TEARS TO SOME PLATES. RECENT REVERSE-CALF BINDING IN THE STYLE OF THE MID-EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. A LITTLE BROWN STAINING TO THE TEXT, REPAIR TO TITLE PAGE, BUT A GOOD COPY. 642 PAGES, INDEX.

London : James Cundee, 1806 A good copy of this scarce 6 volume work bound in 3 volumes. With 58 (of 60) hand coloured plates and 6 hand coloured vignette title pages. An account of natural history based around observation and reading mixed with anecdotes and tales relating to the animal in question. The illustrator (anonymous) has then produced some extraordinary illustrations including an orang utan at the dining table, a flock of herons attacking rooks, a boxing kangaroo, and a man riding an ostrich, and a sneaking crocodile. Rev Smith refers to himself as an 'editor' rather than an author - but there are no clues as to contributors. Originally planned in 4 volumes, Vol 5 and 6 (covering fish, amphibians, insects and other invertebrates) were added in 1807. Each volume has a frontispiece, a hand coloured vignette title page, and a plain title page. According to the directions to the binder at the end of Vol 6, there should be 60 plates - this copy is lacking a frontispiece of a turkey and… Read More

BOSTON, CUMMINGS AND HILLIARD, 1822. THE SECOND EDITION IN TWO VOLUMES, REBOUND IN FULL VELLUM, NEW ENDPAPERS. FOLDING MAP AT FRONT OF VOLUME 1. FIVE PLATES AT THE REAR OF VOLUME TWO. 817 PAGES IN ALL. SOME FOXING BUT OVERALL VERY CLEAN, TIGHTLY BOUND. A NICE SET. SCARCE.

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

Leipzig: Leipzig: Edition, 1974. Limited Edition of 1750. Elephant folios (19x15 inches) housed together in a plain green board slipcase. very good. Maria Sibylla Merian: Leningrader Aquarelle / Leningrad Watercolours; text in English, German, French, Russian. Edition Leipzig, 1974. Limited. hardcover. Maria Sibylla Merian. 50 fine large color facsimiles of original watercolors in 2 volumes -- plate volume with 50 fasicles loose as issued in a velum-backed hand-marbled board clamshell case. The text volume (319 pages of commentary in Russian, English, French and German) in a matching binding has 146 smaller color reproductions on 17 folding plates. Elephant folios (19 x 15 x 4.5 inches) housed together in a plain green board slipcase. Edition limited to 1750 copies. -- Very heavy, requires extra shipping! -- The original watercolors are in Peter the Great's collection, housed in the Archives and Library of the Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R. in Leningrad. 2 volumes -- plate volume with 50… Read More