Search Results: NATURAL HISTORY from E C Books

Firenze : Redia, 1917 Two bound volumes of offprints by Berlese from Redia. These are as follows: Vol I: Centuria Prima di Acari Nuovi, 1916; Centuria Seconda; Centuria terza; Revisione de gen. Hydrozetes,1917; Intorno agli Uropodidae 1917; Sul Liponyssus Natricis (Gerv) e su altri Dermanissidi dei rettili, 1917 with one folding plate; Centuria Quarta, 1918; Su una nuova specie di Trombidide. 1917 with one plate; Centuria quinta, 1920; Centuria sesta, 1923. Vol II: Acari nuovi Redia Vol I, fasc 2, 1903, Manipulus I. Manipulus II; Manipulus III with 2 folding plates; Manipulus IV, 1905 with 3 folding plates; Manipulus V; Manipulus VI with 4 folding plates; Manipulus VII-VIII, 1913 with 8 folding plates; Manipulus IX, 1914 with 4 folding plates. The half leather bindings are clean and sound, with small gilt-lined raised bands to spine and gilt titles. Vol I has some scuffing and leather loss on the back board close to the spine at the top edge, and a small scuff at the side edge of the front board. Both… Read More

Calcutta: Printed by Order of the Trustees of the Indian Museum , 1902 First english edition - translated from the german by Robert Von Lendenfeld. Complete with 23 full page black and white plates. It looks to have been rebound in a good cloth binding fairly recently: the binding is in excellent condition with gilt titles to spine. Internally the endpapers are new. There is a small ink signature to the top of the title page but the contents are otherwise unmarked. There is a little brown spotting to title page and second 'note' page, but the remainder of the text and plates are clean and in very good condition. 113 pages plus plates (each with protective guard). An extremely scarce work.

London and Edinburgh: J Mawman and David Brown, 1815 A fair copy of this important work in newer quarter leather binding. John Laing was ship's surgeon on The Resolution, which sailed from Whitby via Lerwick in the Shetland Isles to the North Sea whale fisheries at Spitzbergen in 1806/7. The book is based on his notes at the time and general observations of his journey, and includes fascinating descriptions of the wildlife he saw. This copy is classed as 'fair' because the print is quite heavy and, in some sections, has offset to the preceding text page. The text is still readable. The binding is in near fine condition with gilt titles and blind tooled lines to spine, and marbled boards. There is slight fading to the spine and light wear. New endpapers and blanks. Contents: title; dedication; advert; journal pp 1-159; appendix pp 161-173 finis. There is some light spotting to the title and the occasional spot elsewhere. Paper is lightly toned, and, as stated above, there are sections of… Read More

London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1897 A very good copy of the complete work - being Vol VII, pts 2 and 8 of the Transactions of the Linnean Society of London, 2nd Ser. Zoology. In the original Linnean Society wraps, pt 2 dated 1897 and pt 8 dated 1899. With 15 black and white plates. Wraps in good condition - a little loss from spines and grubbiness to edges. Contents in very good clean condition with many text pages unopened.

London: Thomas Martyn At his Academy for Illustrating and Painting Natural History, 1793 A good to very good copy of the first edition of this extremely scarce work. With hand coloured frontispiece, 28 hand coloured plates, and 2 plates of medals. Thomas Martyn is principally known as a draughtsman of natural history works. This publication is drawn from Charles Clerck's study dated 1757 and Eleazor Albin's Natural History of Spiders from 1736. The binding has a newer black morocco leather spine with decorative gilt bands and gilt titles. The boards are probably as issued by the publisher. There is rubbing and wear to the spine joints - particularly the top of the front joint - and rubbing to spine ends. The boards have a lot of wear to the marbled paper and the corners - which look to have been leather-covered at some point - are very worn. The endpapers are newer and with a small label of E W Classey to the front pastedown. Contents: hand coloured frontispiece; engraved title; advertisement 2pp;… Read More

London: Ray Society, 1912 Two volume set (1912-1913), with volume II containing most of the plates. In original Ray Society binding which has been rebacked mostly preserving the original spines. There is some fraying to the spine and the corners are rubbed but the binding is otherwise in good clean condition. There are small library numberings to the base of spines. Contents in good clean condition including 72 plates in volume II - many of which are coloured. There are small round library stamps of Gloucestershire Public Libraries at various points, including at the top right hand corner of each plate.

London: Frederick Warne & Co., Ltd, 1959 A very good 2 volume set of British Beetles in good dust wrappers. Bindings are bright and clean with gilt titles and beetle to front boards. Vol I has a small cloth crease to the middle of both boards; Vol II has a small cloth crease in the middle of the back board. Page edges marbled. Vol I has decorative endpapers and Vol II plain endpapers - both with an ownership signature to the fep. Vol I: First Series with 19 colour and 20 black and white plates, 300 pp with 4 plain pages for notes at the rear. Couple of tiny holes at the front endpaper joint and small repaired edge tear at the top of p 189. Contents very clean. Vol II: Second Series with 44 colour and 43 black and white plates, 295 pp. Very clean internally; light stain at the foredge. Wrappers are price clipped with a price sticker of £2.00 at the front flap. Both have light edgewear and slight loss at folds and spine ends with repair, and some surface scuffing down the folds. The wrap to Vol II has… Read More

Edinburgh: David Douglas, 1890 A good to very good copy illustrated with numerous drawings by the author. In the original green cloth binding with gilt titles to spine. Top page edges gilt. The spine is faded with pulling and some fraying to the top and bottom. Both boards have slight marking with the back board having a small cloth scuff. Corners lightly bumped and with wear. Internally there is some early splitting at the front endpaper joint. Contents: title with signature to top, decorative title with crease to tissue guard, prefaces, contents and illustration list pp xv; half title Memoir text pp 3-34; half title letters; text pp 37-186; half title extracts from diaries; text pp 189-276; index 277-279; and publisher's catalogue dated October 1890 at the rear. Memoir and diary extracts profusely illustrated with Graham's drawings. Original page marker present - detached. Contents generally in very good clean condition.

London : Caxton Publishing Company A good copy, complete with 115 colour-printed plates in new quarter cloth binding with marbled boards. Undated but 1907/8. The plates by Henrik Gronvold and Frederick Frohawk are beautiful. The binding is 'as new' with new endpapers.Top page edges gilt, remainder untrimmed. Contents - Vol I: 4 plates of eggs; title page; contents list; introduction; text with 56 plates; 210pp. Vol II: 4 plates of eggs; title page; contents; text with 51 plates; appendix; index 215pp. Text pages with some spotting, particularly to top margins, and light toning towards edges. Plates with tissue guards, some of which are creased or with slight damage. Plates themselves clean and mostly not affected by spotting. Contents slight dusty smell on opening.

London : Simpkin & Marshall, 1825 Volumes I - VII of the 1st edition of Maund's Botanic Garden ranging in date from 1825 to 1836 (Vol VII is undated) with 167 of 168 fine hand coloured plates. It was originally issued in parts and these volumes are in what looks like an original publisher's cloth binding which is worn and disintegrating with some poor stitching, so this set has been priced to take account of rebinding costs. The book is in a square octavo format and text pages are printed on one side only. The contents are clean and bright with beautiful colouring on the plates (faults are listed in the detailed description below). There is some offsetting where particularly strong colour has been applied and shows through to the back of the plates. All have a decorative title page and an additional title page. Vol IV has a third title page part way through the book. All are unpaginated. Vol I has a dedication 'to the lovers of Botany', preface and index - the 9th plate has some… Read More

London: John and Arthur Arch, Cornhill. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown & Green. Paternoster Row. & C Loddiges & Sons, Hackney, 1824 A scarce complete volume of Loddiges' Botanical Cabinet, with 100 hand coloured plates engraved by George Cooke. Conrad Loddiges founded a plant nursery business in Hackney and the family became famous for exotic and rare plants. The mauve rhododendron that has become common in Great Britain today was imported by Conrad Loddiges. The Botanical Cabinet showcases the rare plants that they imported and grew. This volume is volume X, dated 1824. In contemporary half leather binding with marbled boards and endpapers. Top page edges gilt. The spine has gilt compartments and elaborate gilt tooling. There are title and volume labels. Internally there is a decorative title page and then a series of plates, each followed by a brief description on a separate page. There are 100 plates of which 9 are folding. There is an index at the rear. The binding is in very… Read More

London: Printed by R Taylor & Co; and sold by the Author, 1806 A very good to near fine copy of this very scarce work by James Sowerby with 76 fine hand coloured plates. Issued in parts, this is in a near contemporary half morocco binding with the original wraps bound in at the rear. It was produced at a time when exploration and interest in natural sciences meant that many new animal species were being identified and this journal was intended to reference those that were native to the British Isles. Only Vol I and 2 parts of Vol II were ever published - with parts initially produced monthly with 4 plates each, and then bi-monthly with 8 plates. This copy has a page apologising for late delivery of the one of the parts because some of the manuscript was stolen on the 24th January 1806. The index to the work was completed after purchase of the stock by Bernard Quaritch in May 1875. The binding has small gilt-lined raised bands to the spine with gilt design in 5 of the 6 compartments and gilt titles.… Read More

London : J Johnson , 1806 A very good copy of Vol III of this scarce work by William Holloway, in full leather binding with contemporary blind stamped boards and newer spine. The British Museum .. was issued in 4 volumes and this volume is complete in itself, and covers fish and insects. It contains a colour frontispiece and 22 further hand coloured plates of fish, and 10 hand coloured plates of insects. It lacks the engraved title page and, according to the copy held by Harvard University, lacks the plate of a swallow tail. We have not been able to find consistent collations of this work. The binding is in very good clean condition with light wear and scuffing to the boards. There is an armorial bookplate with the name Haughton and the motto 'maigre le fort' to the front pastedown. There is the signature of James Haughton dated 1810 to the title, together with a part signature - Heard - dated 1884. Contents: frontispiece, title, contents list pp vi; fish - text 1-143 with 22 plates; insects… Read More

LONDON : L Reeve & Co., 1871 This is part of Lovell Reeve's crown octavo series of popular natural history for beginners and amateurs. The preface starts 'this little work is planned on the supposition that the reader knows nothing scientifically of the insect world....'. So the book gives some basics and then gets on to helping the reader identify the range of insects they might encounter. It is in the original blue decorative cloth binding with a gilt picture to the front board and gilt titles on the spine. The book has had a good cloth case repair - relaying the spine so the binding is sound and tight if slightly grubby and faded/darkened on the spine. The endpapers are new. It has 16 coloured plates as called for and numerous illustrations in the text. There is some brown spotting on the text but this does not generally affect the plates which are bright and clear.

LONDON: William S Orr & Co, 1846 A poor copy of this beautiful work with 60 hand coloured plates. Classed as poor because the title page is missing; the binding is poor - in marked plain cloth and beginning to detach; and there is a little marking internally. The pagination matches our other 2nd edition copy so this is presumed as second, dated to 1846. The plates are in good condition - there is some brown spotting to edges, and around 3 have a darkened section, again at the edge not affecting the flower image (we have noticed only one plate with a light mark affecting the flower). All have tissue guards - one guard is torn and one has a small hole - most guards have marking. A few text pages have a little marking and p 117 has a repaired tear to the top margin. The final index page has a small hole at the top. This copy would be well worth rebinding.

LONDON: James Nelson & Co, 1859 A good copy of the 3rd edition in the original decorative cloth binding, with 60 hand coloured plates. The binding has a gilt plant to the front board with blind stamped decoration to both boards. The spine has gilt decoration and titles. There is uneven fading to the boards and the spine is faded with a couple of spots. There is wear to edges, spine ends, joints and corners (very turned) with some cloth loss but the binding is clean and sound. Original yellow endpapers present with spotting which continues over the half title and slightly affects the title page at the beginning, and affects the final index leaf and the verso of the rear free endpaper at the end. Contents are complete, clean and sound and in very good condition with 60 hand coloured plates with guards. There is light toning to page edges and the occasional light mark or corner turn. Plate 2 is positioned at p 4, and Plate 1 at p 10. There is slight grubbiness to the gutter of Plate 33 and a darker area… Read More

London: John Van Voorst, 1869 A very good copy of the 1st edition in the original decorative cloth binding. The binding has gilt titles to spine and blind stamped decoration to boards. There is light wear to edges including spine ends, joints and corners. Corners are turned with some cloth loss. There is a scuff to the front board which terminates at the edge with small cloth loss and three small indentations to the same edge. Internally the original yellow endpapers are present with a neat signature of Elizabeth G Gray at the fep. Contents are complete with one page listing of books by the same author at the rear. Internally very clean and sound with the odd spot, and some darkening at the top page edge and a couple of dark spots at the bottom page edge.

London: The Ray Society, 1925 A very good to near fine set in the original Ray Society cloth bindings with 60 plates of which 18 are coloured or partly coloured. Vol I is inscribed and signed by Chas D Soar at the front free endpaper. The bindings are very bright and clean with slight fading to spines. Light pulling to spine ends. All have small bottom corner tip bumps - in Vol I there is some scuffing to the edge with cloth loss (about 1 cm) just before the bump. Vol I has a small dent to the side edge of the front board. Vol I issued 1925, Vol II 1927, and Vol III 1929. The contents of all are complete and very clean. There is brown toning to free endpapers. The Ray Society publication notes at the rear of each volume are largely unopened.

LONDON: Ray Society, 1901 A very good copy of this 2 volume work published in 1901 and 1903. In the original Ray Society binding with 28 colour and 14 black and white plates. An authoritative work still used today. The bindings are very bright and clean. Vol I has a more faded spine with slight pulling. Vol II has a spine lean towards the front and a slight bump to the top corner of the back board. Vol I: original endpapers; 2 title pages; preface; abbreviations; contents; text and 13 colour and 9 black and white plates at the rear; list of Ray Society publications and Ray Society business. There is a very small repaired edge tear the side of p33 and the top corner of the rear endpaper has been turned over at some point. Vol II: original endpapers; 2 title pages; preface; contents; text with 15 colour and 5 black and white plates at the rear; List of Ray Society publications and Ray Society business. Text pages slightly toned in comparison with Vol I. A nice set.

London : The Religious Tract Society , 1846 A very good copy in the original decorative cloth binding with hand coloured frontispiece and 23 further hand coloured plates. Anonymous author. The binding has a gilt bird on a branch to the front board and gilt titles to spine. All edges gilted. The binding is bright and clean with light wear to corners. There is the beginning of a split at the front spine joint but the book is sound. Original yellow endpapers present. Contents with frontispiece and guard; title; contents and plate list; text 216pp with 23 guarded plates. Internally in very good clean condition with the occasional light mark or spot.