Natural history of uncommon birds
“At its date the Natural History and gleanings was one of the most important of all Bird Books, both as a Fine Bird Book and a work on ornithology. It is still high on each list ” (Fine Bird Books.)
The finest copy recorded on the market of this magnificent 18th-century ornithological work, adorned with 210 hand-colored engravings, in sumptuous contemporary red morocco richly decorated with broad dentelle borders and gilt bird tool.
From the library of the Dukes of Luynes.
4 volumes in 2 quarto volumes.
Part 1, 1745: 1 frontispiece, 2 pp., XXI pp., LU pp., LII pp., (IP), 52 plates.
Part II, 1748: IV pp., pp. LIII to CV, 26 pp., 53 plates and 1 portrait.
Part III, 1751: V pp., pp. CVI to CLVII, 52 plates.
Part IV, 1751: III pp., pp. CLVIII to CCX, pp. 211 to 236, 53 plates.
Red morocco, wide and beautiful gilt dentelle with bird tools bordering the covers, spine with raised bands decorated, title and volume labels in green morocco, gilt fillets on the edges, decorative roll on inner boards, gilt edges. Contemporary dentelle morocco binding.
291 x 233 mm.
Edwards, George. A Natural History of Uncommon Birds and Other Rare Animals & Which Have Not Been Described… A Natural History of Various Birds Which Had Not Yet Been Illustrated Nor Described: Quadrupeds, Reptiles, Fish, Insects.
London, Printed for the Author at the Royal College of Physicians, 1745-1751.
Superb edition of one of the most beautiful ornithological works of the 18th century.
Nissen, 286; Anker, 125; Stillwell, p. 93; Brunet, II, 946; Ayer/Zimmer, I, 196; Fine Bird Books, p. 73.
“At its date ‘The Natural History of… Birds’ was one of the most important of all Bird Books, both as a Fine Bird Book and a work on ornithology” (Fine Bird Books).
English naturalist George Edwards was the librarian of the College of Physicians and a friend of Linnaeus. He devoted several years of work to this volume, which remains one of the most important ornithological studies of the first half of the 18th century. This edition, the first French one, contains the French text by David Durand.
Splendid work, considered one of the finest of its time, adorned with 210 etched plates delicately hand-colored at the time from life, as well as a frontispiece and a portrait.
Most of the plates are dedicated to various kinds of birds: parrots, birds of paradise, hummingbirds, woodpeckers, cranes, ducks… All in brilliant colors.
Magnificent copy in vibrant colors, superbly bound in red morocco with elaborate tooling by a Parisian master of the period.
A Natural History of Uncommon Birds by George Edwards was first published with English text in 1743-1751. The plates, etched after the author's drawings, are the same in both editions. In 1751, a general title was added: A Natural History of Uncommon Birds and Other Rare Animals and Which Have Not Yet Been Described, consisting of quadrupeds, reptiles, fish, insects, etc.
From the Parisian library of the Dukes of Luynes, at the Hôtel de Chevreuse, with engraved bookplate and D.L./P. stamp at the bottom of the titles. The bookplate is that of Louis-Charles d'Albert de Luynes (1748-1807), sixth Duke of Luynes, who was Colonel-General of the Dragoons and deputy for Touraine, aligned with the Third Estate at the Estates General of 1789.
The copy then passed to the library of Thérèse de La Rochefoucauld (1888-1958), wife of Prince and Duke Ernest d’Arenberg (1886-1915), an eminent ornithologist, with her bookplate; and then, by inheritance, to that of Marquis Armand de Vasselot de Régné (1919-2003), her nephew by marriage, with his bookplate.
