George Edwards - Gleanings of Natural History [...] part II - 1760

George Edwards. Gleanings of Natural History 1760...50 Antique Prints with Original Hand Colouring, in QUARTO.

RARE First edition. Titles and parallel text in French and English. Published in London, MDCCLX (1760). The plates are finely coloured by George Edwards, each illustration is signed and dated.

Rare illustration of the Dodo (Raphus cucullatus), an extinct flightless bird that was endemic to the island of Mauritius, east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. George Edwards explained that he used the guinea pig to help with a sense of scale to show the large size of the Dodo.

Title: Gleanings of Natural History exhibiting Figures of Quadrupeds, Birds, Fishes, Insects etc. Most of which have not, till now, been either figured or described. With descriptions of on hundred different subjects, designed, engraved, and coloured after nature, on fifty Copper-Plate Prints By George Edwards, Fellow of the Royal Society, and the Society of Antiquaries. Published by College of Physicians Warwick-Lane, London.

Size: Height 30 x Width 24.5 cm (11.8 x 9.7 inches).

Description: 4°, 220 text-index pages with 50 full-page copper engravings. COMPLETE book (volume VI only). Double title in French and English. Parallel text in French and English. 19th century hardcover binding in excellent condition, spine in compartments with edges and gilt tooling (small rubbing and scuffing) with title and author. Pages and plates are clean, occasional light spotting and very light browning and offsetting and do not affect the illustrations. Strong and heavy paper, sometimes plates are watermarked J.Whatman. FINE ILLUSTRATED BOOK.

Author and Illustrator: George Edwards (1694-1773) was an English naturalist and ornithologist, known as the "father of British ornithology". In his early years he travelled extensively through mainland Europe, studying natural history, and gained some reputation for his coloured drawings of animals, especially birds. In 1743 Edwards published the first volume of his A Natural History of Uncommon Birds, the fourth volume of which appeared in 1751; three supplementary volumes, under the title Gleanings of Natural History, were issued in 1758, 1760 and 1764.

References: Lisney p.127; Anker 124-126; Fine Bird Books (1990) p.74 & 93; Nissen IVB 286-288; Zimmer pp.192-198-203.

Shipping: via UPS, DHL, National Postal Services, protected and fully tracked package. Estimated time for Europe 3-8 working days.