The First Elephant Folio Edition 34

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William Reese Company Rare Books, Americana, Literature & Pictorial Americana 409 Temple Street, New Haven, Connecticut 06511 203 / 789 · 8081 fax: 203 / 865 · 7653 e-mail: [email protected] web: www.reeseco.com Bulletin 33: American Natural History

Foundation Stone of Early American Natural History 1. Catesby, Mark: THE NATURAL HISTORY OF CAROLINA, FLORIDA, AND THE BAHAMA ISLANDS, CONTAINING THE FIGURES OF BIRDS, BEASTS, FISHES, SERPENTS, INSECTS, AND PLANTS, PARTICULARLY, THOSE NOT HITHERTO DESCRIBED, OR INCORRECTLY FIGURED BY FORMER AUTHORS, WITH THEIR DESCRIPTIONS IN ENGLISH AND FRENCH. TO WHICH IS PREFIXED, A NEW AND CORRECT MAP OF THE COUNTRIES; WITH OBSERVATIONS ON THEIR NATURAL STATE, INHABITANTS, AND PRODUCTIONS. BY THE LATE MARK CATESBY, F.R.S. REVISED BY MR. EDWARDS . . . TO THE WHOLE IS NOW ADDED A LINNAEAN INDEX OF THE ANIMALS AND PLANTS. London. 1771 [plates on wove paper watermarked 1815–1816]. Two volumes. With 220 handcolored engraved plates and a double-page handcolored engraved map. Folio. Expertly bound to style in half diced russia and contemporary marbled boards, spines gilt, red speckled edges. Light age toning. Very good. “Catesby’s Natural History is the most famous color plate book of American plant and animal life . . . a fundamental and original work for the study of American specie”—Hunt. A lovely and vastly important work by the founder of American ornithology, this book embodies the most impressive record made during the colonial period of the natural history of an American colony. This copy is a fine example of a later issue of the third edition. Copies vary in the quality of coloring; in the present copy the coloring is superb. $170,000. New England’s Prospect, with the Rare Map 2. Wood, William: NEW ENGLANDS PROSPECT. A TRUE, LIVELY, AND EXPERIMENTALL DESCRIPTION OF THAT PART OF AMER - ICA, COMMONLY CALLED NEW ENGLAND: DISCOVERING THE STATE OF THAT COUNTRIE, BOTH AS IT STANDS TO OUR NEW- COME ENGLISH PLANTERS; AND TO THE OLD NATIVE INHABIT - ANTS. . . . London. 1635. With a folding woodcut and letterpress map. Small quarto. 20th-century crimson morocco, gilt, bound for Myers & Co. of London, spine gilt with raised bands. Map trimmed to margins with two old neat repairs on verso. Upper margins trimmed, touching headlines and an occasional page number. Neatly repaired worm track through outer blank margins of title and text leaves to C4. Else very good. In a half morocco box. The rare second edition, with the very rare map, published a year after the first edition. This is the first detailed account of the animals and plants of New England, as well as the Indian tribes of the region. Part One is divided into twelve chapters and is devoted to the climate, landscape, and early settlements, and describes in some detail the native trees, plants, fish, game, and mineral ores, as well as including advice to those thinking of crossing the Atlantic. Part Two is devoted to the native inhabitants and is divided into twenty chapters. The map, one of the most important early New England maps (and often lacking from the book) is here in a crisp, clean, fine example. It is the second state of the map, the same as appeared in the 1634 first edition, but with a reset heading, changing the date to 1635. $75,000.

For these items and much more, browse our website: www.reeseco.com First Natural History of New England 3. Josselyn, John: AN ACCOUNT OF TWO VOYAGES TO NEW-ENGLAND. . . . London. 1674. 12mo. Full contemporary calf, manu- script label. Some worming at spine, else a very fine, clean copy, complete with the printer’s device representing a dragon on the verso of the license page which precedes the titlepage. In a half morocco and cloth slipcase. Josselyn made two trips to America, in 1638–39 and 1663–71. His narrative is highly valued for its observations on the state of medicine and surgery in the colonies, as well as its natural history content. Much of the text consists of an extensive catalogue of the flora and fauna of the region, with specific details about the character and demeanor of the creatures encountered there. Josselyn includes a historical chronology but acquired his information second hand, and his notes on events are generally considered second rate. A rare, important, and interesting work. $22,500. Classic of American Travel and Natural History 4. Kalm, Peter: TRAVELS INTO NORTH AMERICA. CONTAINING ITS NATURAL HISTORY, AND A CIRCUMSTANTIAL ACCOUNT OF ITS PLANTATIONS AND AGRICULTURE IN GENERAL . . . THE CIVIL, ECCLESIASTICAL AND COMMERCIAL STATE OF THE COUNTRY. Warrington. 1770–1771. Three volumes. With a folding map and six plates. 19th-century three-quarter calf, spines gilt. Internally quite clean. Very good. The first English edition, translated by John Reinhold Forster, after the original Swedish edition published in Stockholm in 1753–61. Kalm was in America in 1748 and 1749, using Philadelphia as his base of operations. Much of the first volume is devoted to his observations on the country around that city; much of the second volume relates to his sojourn in the Swedish settlements in southern New Jersey; and the remaining volume concerns his journey north through New York to Montreal and Quebec, and his experiences there in 1749. $ 7500. The Book that Launched the Mutiny on the Bounty The Baltimore Oriole by Sarah Stone 5. Ellis, John: A DESCRIPTION OF THE MANGOSTAN AND THE 6. Stone, Sarah: BALTIMORE BIRDS, N. AMERICA. [London]. 1785. BREAD-FRUIT: THE FIRST, ESTEEMED ONE OF THE MOST DELI - Watercolor and ink on a single sheet of heavy wove paper, 43 x 35 cm. Scattered CIOUS; THE OTHER, THE MOST USEFUL OF ALL THE FRUITS OF foxing, marginal browning from an old mat, not affecting the image. Overall very IN THE EAST INDIES. London. 1775. With four plates. Quarto. Antique-style good. Matted. three-quarter calf and contemporary marbled boards, leather label. A fine copy. An autodidact whose father was a fan painter, Sarah Stone was already renowned as This treatise, which spurred interest in the use of the breadfruit as a food source for an illustrator of natural history specimens when still in her teens. She began working West Indian slaves, includes four plates illustrating the mangosteen, the breadfruit, for Sir Ashton Lever in 1777, illustrating objects in his famous museum; over the next and the necessary bulky wooden houses to transport the live plants across the ocean. decade she executed hundreds of watercolors of all sorts of ethnological and natural Enthusiasm for Ellis’ proposal was the basis for the famed Bounty voyage to the items, working from the specimens in the Leverian Museum. The Baltimore Orioles South Seas to collect breadfruit for a projected plantation in the West Indies. When would have been among the American “curiosities” of the Museum, and Stone’s the mutineers on the Bounty sent Bligh and his loyalists off in a small launch, they depiction of them in 1785 is one of the very few illustrations of North American birds also happily pitched the breadfruit and its housings overboard. $13,500. from this period. $15,000. A Classic of American Natural History and Travel 7. Bartram, William: TRAVELS THROUGH NORTH & SOUTH CARO- LINA, GEORGIA, EAST & WEST FLORIDA, THE CHEROKEE COUN - TRY, THE EXTENSIVE TERRITORIES OF THE MUSCOGULGES, OR CREEK CONFEDERACY, AND THE COUNTRY OF THE CHAC - TAWS. . . . Philadelphia. 1791. With engraved frontispiece portrait, engraved folding map, and seven engraved plates of natural history specimens (one folding). Contemporary mottled calf, spine gilt, leather label. Hinges and top of spine neatly repaired. Modern ownership inscription on front fly leaf. Small tear in titlepage, repaired; tear in a plate, also neatly repaired. Light foxing. A very good copy in contemporary condition of a book almost always found damaged. In a red half morocco and cloth slipcase, spine gilt. This rare first edition of one of the classic accounts of southern natural history and exploration also contains interesting material on the southern Indian tribes, including a chapter on the customs and language of the Muscogulges and Cherokees. “Unequalled for the vivid picturesqueness of its descriptions of nature, scenery, and productions”—Sabin. William Bartram (1739–1823) was the son of John Bartram, a noted botanist and friend of Benjamin Franklin, after whom they names a tree. Thomas Jefferson, another family friend, purchased plants for Monticello at the Bar- tram nursery, the first of its kind, operated by William and his brother John. $16,000.

Full descriptions of these items may be viewed on our website or obtained on request. Our most recent catalogues include 304: The Big Middle, 305: Recent Acquisitions in Americana, 306: Literature and 307, Hawaii. These catalogues and others, as well as more items from our inventory, may be viewed on our website at www.reeseco.com A Classic of Early American Natural History 8. Abbot, John, and Sir James Edward Smith: THE NATU- RAL HISTORY OF THE RARER LEPIDOPTEROUS INSECTS OF GEORGIA. INCLUDING THEIR SYS- TEMATIC CHARACTERS, THE PARTICULARS OF THEIR SEVERAL META- MORPHOSES, AND THE PLANTS ON WHICH THEY FEED. COLLECTED FROM THE OBSERVA- TIONS OF MR JOHN ABBOT, MANY YEARS RESIDENT IN THAT COUNTRY, BY JAMES EDWARD SMITH. London. 1797 [text watermarked 1794; plates watermarked 1817–1821]. Two volumes. With 104 handcolored engraved plates, some heightened with gum-arabic. Folio. Expertly bound to style in half calf and contemporary marbled boards, spines gilt extra, leather labels stamped in gilt. Fine. The earliest illustrated monograph devoted to the butterflies and moths of North America. Abbot’s watercolors are among the finest natural history illustrations ever made: elegant and scientifically accurate, they rank with those of his famous contemporaries, William Bartram and Alexander Wilson. William Swainson described Abbot as one of the United States’ most important natural history artists, “a most assiduous collector, and an admirable draftsman of insects. [This] work is one of the most beautiful that this or any other country can boast of” (quoted by Sabin). $67,500. An Important Rarity of American Natural History First Botanical Record 9. Barton, Benjamin Smith: FRAGMENTS OF THE NATURAL HIS- of the Lewis and Clark Expedition TORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. Philadelphia. 1799. Folio. Modern three-quarter 10. Pursh, Frederick: morocco and marbled boards, spine gilt, early plain rear wrapper bound in at back. FLORA AMERICAE Bit age-toned, few small chips along edges of titlepage. Some light scattered fox- SEPTENTRIONALIS; ing. Overall very good. OR, A SYSTEMATIC Barton’s writings reflect the wide scope of his interests beyond the medical field to ARRANGEMENT such topics as Indian languages, botany, birds, rattlesnakes, and a variety of other AND DESCRIPTION natural history subjects. “This work deals predominantly with the migratory birds, OF THE PLANTS OF arranged according to the dates throughout the year 1791 on which they were first NORTH AMERICA. seen in the neighborhood of Philadelphia . . . Barton also notices and describes the CONTAINING, BESIDES concurrent state of the vegetation”—MacPhail. Although noted as “Part First” on WHAT MAY HAVE the titlepage, this is all that was published. $3500. BEEN DESCRIBED BY PRECEDING AUTHORS, MANY NEW AND RARE SPECIES, COLLECTED DURING TWELVE YEARS TRAVELS AND RESIDENCE IN THAT COUNTRY . . . Second Edition. London. 1816. Two volumes. With twenty-four handcolored stipple-engraved plates. Publisher’s purple cord-grained cloth, letterpress paper labels. Very good. A landmark work in early American botany and a book which has been styled by one botanical historian as “amazingly brilliant.” Pursh made two memorable journeys of botanical exploration in 1806 and 1807. In 1806, Pursh had met Meriwether Lewis, who gave him a collection of dried plants gathered on the famed Lewis and Clark expedition. Due to delays in the publication of the Lewis and Clark narrative, material about these plants were incorporated into Pursh’s own work, carefully noted as “in Herb. Lewis.” This second edition is made up from the same sheets as the first edition of 1814, with cancel titlepages added, present here in the highly desirable colored issue. $10,000. With Magnificent Aquatint Plates 11. Humboldt, Alexander von, and Aimé Bonpland: VUES DES CORDILLÈRES ET MONUMENS DES PEUPLES INDIGÈNES DE L’AMÉRIQUE. Paris. 1810. Two volumes bound in one. With sixty-nine engraved plates on sixty-eight leaves (twenty-seven colored, four printed in sepia). Large folio. Expertly bound to style in half morocco, preserving original brown boards, spine gilt. Plates and text very fresh and clean. Near fine. Untrimmed. This atlas is one of the most important publications resulting from the expedition to America in 1799–1804 of German scientist and explorer Alexander von Humboldt, and botanist Aimé Bonpland. Vue des Cor- dillères is most notable for its remarkable aquatint plates of scenes in South and Cen- tral America, particularly the magnificent double-page plate of the great volcano of Chimborazo in the Andean highlands. The atlas is equally important as the first extensive treatment of surviving pre- Columbian and immediately post-Colum- bian Indian codices. $60,000. Original Artwork of the Andean Condor from Humboldt’s Masterwork

12. [Humboldt, Alexander von]: [ENGRAVING AND CONCEPT ART FOR THE VULTUR GRYPHUS FROM HUMBOLDT’S R ec u eil d’O b ser vat i o ns d e Zoo lo gie e t d’A n ato mie Co mpa r ée . . . ]. [Paris. 1811]. Engraving: 14 x 10¼ inches. Proof art: 12 x 9¼ inches. Minor soiling and wear. Each piece matted. Very good. The present engraving and art are from the second part of the Voyage de Humboldt et native customs of the New World. There are subtle differences between the art and Bonpland, which is devoted to zoological life. The voyage, undertaken in 1799–1804 by the finished print. An interesting example of original working material from one of the great German scientist and explorer, Alexander von Humboldt, and the botanist, the classics of natural history. $7500. Aimé Bonpland, sought to investigate geography, natural history, archaeology, and Flowers and Fruits of America 13. Titford, William Jowit: SKETCHES TOWARDS A HORTUS BOTANICUS AMERICANUS; OR, COLOURED PLATES (WITH A CATALOGUE AND CONCISE AND FAMILIAR DESCRIPTIONS OF MANY SPECIES) OF NEW AND VALUABLE PLANTS OF THE WEST INDIES AND NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICA. London. 1812. With eighteen handcolored plates. Quarto. Antique-style half calf and marbled boards, spine gilt, leather label. Titlepage slightly soiled, minor age toning. Contemporary gift inscription on first page of preface. Old repaired tear in bottom margin of first page of preface, touching a few lines of text. Very good. Titford was a Jamaica-born physician who lived on that island for many years, and travelled extensively in the United States. Otherwise little is known about him, excepting this work, for which he made all of the original drawings for the beautiful handcolored plates. Titford’s only known publication, the work was originally issued in six parts, and editions appear with titlepages dated 1811 and 1812. An exquisite color plate botanical work, one of the earliest to depict American plant species, here with a fine contemporary Caribbean provenance. $6000. Important Work on Caribbean Plants 14. Chaumeton, François Pierre: FLORE MÉDICALE. Paris. 1814–1819. Eight volumes. With 425 color plates (two folding). Contemporary three-quarter calf and marbled boards, spines gilt, leather labels. Corners rubbed. Light foxing. Very good. An interesting and beautifully illustrated series, difficult to find complete. The title appears to have been loosely interpreted, and consequently the work was expanded to include grapes, melon, palms, pineapple, pomegranates, bananas, and other interesting but non- medical plants. François Pierre Chaumeton was a French army physician, pharmacist, and botanist. He worked on several notable medical publications beyond this one. Fellow botanist Jean Louis Marie Poiret collaborated with him on this project, perhaps accounting for its wide-ranging scope, far beyond mere medical botany. $8000. First American Book with Color Printing 15. Bigelow, Jacob: AMERICAN MEDICAL BOTANY, BEING A COL - LECTION OF THE NATIVE MEDICINAL PLANTS OF THE UNITED STATES, CONTAINING THEIR BOTANICAL HISTORY AND CHEMI - CAL ANALYSIS, AND PROPERTIES AND USES. . . . Boston. 1817–1820. Three volumes. With sixty color plates. Contemporary three-quarter maroon calf and marbled boards, spines gilt. Minor wear to extremities. Scattered foxing. Book- plates on front pastedowns. Blindstamps on titlepages and some plates. Plates with some minor foxing. Overall very good. In a half morocco box. Bigelow originally issued his work in six parts, intended to be bound in three volumes, between the fall of 1817 and the spring of 1821; however, the titlepages are dated 1817, 1818, and 1821. In writing to European correspondents he was apologetic about its appearance—he was familiar with what was being done in Europe and knew his pioneering American production was not on the same level. Despite his misgivings, American Medical Botany is a beautiful and significant work in the history of American botany and color printing. $7500. A Milestone in American Color Plate Books 16. Barton, William P.C.: A FLORA OF NORTH AMERICA. ILLUSTRATED BY COLOURED FIGURES, DRAWN FROM NATURE. Philadelphia. [1820–]1821–1823[–1824]. Three volumes. With 106 handcolored engraved plates (two folding). Quarto. Expertly bound to style in three-quarter red morocco and contemporary blue boards, spines gilt. Some expert repairs to marginal tears. Very good. Barton’s more ambitious work, with over 100 plates depicting American flowers, was common name, and class and order according to the Linnaean system, followed by issued several years after his book on medical botany. The engraved plates, partly interesting information about the history of the discovery of the species and details in printed color and finished with hand-coloring, are some of the finest issued in the about its geographical range. $17,500. United States up to that time. The text gives details of each species, its Latin binomial, Standard Ornithology Before Audubon 17. Wilson, Alexander: AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY; OR THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE BIRDS OF THE UNITED STATES. ILLUSTRATED WITH PLATES ENGRAVED AND COLOURED FROM ORIGINAL DRAWINGS TAKEN FROM NATURE. New York & Philadelphia. 1828–1829. Three quarto text volumes plus folio atlas volume. Atlas with seventy-six handcolored engraved plates, some heightened with gum arabic. Expertly bound to style in half red straight-grained morocco and period near-uniform marbled boards, spines gilt. Very good. The second full edition of Wilson’s work, with plates in their most desirable form. species and by contributing an important “Sketch of the Author’s Life.” A higher This is the most important work on American ornithology before Audubon. The quality of pigments and better quality paper were used in this edition, thus avoiding first edition of Wilson’s life-work was published in nine volumes between 1808 and the foxing which almost inevitably mars the first. Thus, this edition is more desirable 1814. The present edition was prepared by Wilson’s friend and colleague, George Ord, than the first. $27,500. who improved the work textually by re-arranging the work in a systematic order by Handsome Audubon Print 18. Audubon, John James: MISSISSIPPI KITE. London. 1829. Double elephant folio print, framed. Near fine condition. Audubon’s depiction of the Mississippi Kite appeared in 1829 as plate 117 in The Birds of America. This plate aroused considerable debate at the time, because many natural historians were quick to note the similarity between the lower of the two birds shown and the rendering of the same species in Alexander Wilson’s American Ornithology, issued in 1809. It is difficult to understand why Audubon found it necessary to lift a bird portrait from Wilson, so vastly his inferior as an artist. The other kite shown provides a magnificent contrast, demonstrating how extraordinary Audubon’s talents were. $15,000. The Text to Audubon’s Double Elephant Folio 19. Audubon, John James: ORNITHOLOGICAL BIOGRAPHY, OR AN ACCOUNT OF THE HABITS OF THE BIRDS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. Edinburgh. 1831–1839. Five volumes. Large, thick octavos. 20th- century cloth, spines gilt. An occasional bit of tanning or a fox mark, but generally quite clean internally. Very good. Audubon published the text separately from the double elephant folio plates in order to avoid a stricture of the British Copyright Act of 1709, which would have required him to deposit a set of the plates with each of nine depository libraries in the United Kingdom. Of great interest are Audubon’s accounts of his travels and adventures in the American hinterland, scattered through the volumes as part of the bird descriptions and as separate anecdotes. Includes accounts of his experiences in the Florida Keys, along the Mississippi, and in Louisiana and Kentucky in the 1820s and ’30s. $10,000. Rare and Lovely Work on Conchology 20. Conrad, T. A.: MONOGRAPHY OF THE FAMILY UNIONIDAE. OR NAIADES OF LAMARCK, (FRESH WATER BIVALVE SHELLS,) OF NORTH AMERICA. ILLUSTRATED BY FIGURES DRAWN ON STONE FROM NATURE. Philadelphia. 1836. With sixty (of sixty-five) colored plates. 19th-century three-quarter morocco and cloth, spine gilt. Binding slightly edgeworn and darkened. Small ownership stamp on titlepage and an occasional very light fox mark, else internally very clean. Very good. Timothy Abbott Conrad was an early and important American naturalist whose reputation is now mostly lost to history. His work is an important complement to Thomas Say’s American Conchology, and Conrad assisted Say’s widow in completing the final part of that work, which was unfinished at the time of Thomas Say’s death. This work was originally issued in thirteen parts between 1836 and 1840, but is most often found in single-volume form. Each part contains five plates. The present copy, contains twelve of the thirteen parts, lacking only the final five plates and accompanying text. $7500. A Major American Color Plate Book 21. Hoffy, Alfred, editor: THE ORCHARDIST’S COMPANION A QUARTERLY JOURNAL, DEVOTED TO THE HISTORY, CHARACTER, PROPERTIES, MODES OF CULTIVATION, AND ALL OTHER MATTERS APPERTAINING TO THE FRUITS OF THE UNITED STATES, EMBELLISHED WITH RICHLY COLORED DESIGNS OF THE NATURAL SIZE, PAINTED FROM THE ACTUAL FRUITS WHEN IN THEIR FINEST CONDITION. . . . Philadelphia. 1841. Two volumes bound in one. With forty-eight handcolored lithographs, each with a facing leaf (or more) of explanatory text. Quarto. Antique-style three-quarter calf and marbled boards, spine gilt, leather label. Scattered foxing, almost exclusively confined to the text; tissue guards intact, plates very clean and bright. Two plates with a small closed tear in foredge. Without the titlepage to the first volume. A very good copy “Alfred Hoffy was a skilled lithographer who worked for several firms in Philadelphia. Fruit and fruit trees were his passion, and his Orchardist’s Companion was the first American journal completely devoted to fruit and its cultivation. It is notable for its superb series of color plates devoted to various fruits, the first such published in the United States (and not to be confused with Robert Hovey’s Fruits of America, published in Boston from 1846 to 1852). It is also one of the rarest of American works illustrated with handcolored lithographs”—Oak Spring Pomona. $14,500. Rare Utopian Society Printing of “a production of unrivalled interest and beauty” 22. Michaux, François André: THE NORTH AMERICAN SYLVA; OR, A DESCRIPTION OF THE FOREST TREES OF THE UNITED STATES, CANADA, AND NOVA SCOTIA. . . . New Harmony, In. & Philadelphia. [1841]–1842. Three volumes. With 156 color plates. Quarto. Antique-style three-quarter gilt morocco and marbled boards, spines gilt with raised bands. Minor scattered foxing to text. Plates generally clean and fresh. Unobtrusive 19th-century private owner blindstamp on each title. A near fine copy. Untrimmed. This publication is the most important work on American trees prior to the 20th executed plates illustrate leaves and nuts or berries of American trees across the entire century. It is the product of the efforts of two of the greatest naturalists to work in continent. Sabin says of the work, “It is no exaggeration to remark that it is the most 19th-century America, François A. Michaux and Thomas Nuttall. The beautifully complete work of its kind, and is a production of unrivalled interest and beauty.” $17,500. A Vast Trove of Scientific Illustration and Color Printing, with All Possible Plates Colored 23. [New York Natural History and Geological Survey]: NATURAL HISTORY OF NEW YORK. Albany. 1842–1894. Thirty volumes. With 1,664 plates, of which 539 are colored. Original cloth, gilt-stamped in the earlier volumes in the series, several volumes rebacked with original backstrips laid down. Several volumes with minor nicks or tears in cloth, but overall a very good set of a work seldom found in decent condition. A complete set of one of the great monuments of American science and natural history same scale as the Pacific Railroad Survey. The present set contains 539 handcolored illustration of the 19th century. Notable for its vast array of color plates, and in later lithographs. An essential work for any collection of early American science or volumes its use of other innovative forms of natural history illustration, the complete American illustration, especially color plates. $14,000. set contains several thousand plates, colored and uncolored, making it a project on the Rare Large Paper Issues of the First American Chromolithographic Book 24. Hovey, Charles M.: THE FRUITS OF AMERICA, CONTAINING RICHLY COLORED FIGURES, AND FULL DESCRIPTIONS OF THE CHOICEST VARIET - IES CULTIVATED IN THE UNITED STATES. New York & Boston. [1847]–1856. Two volumes. Two lithographed portrait frontispieces, with ninety-six chromolithographed plates. Large quarto. Contemporary green half morocco and cloth, spines gilt with raised bands, marbled endpapers, bound by John C. Moore of Rochester, New York (binder’s ticket in each volume). Very good. The most beautiful work on American fruits and fruit trees, Hovey’s book was also the first to have its plates printed entirely by chromolithography. Apples, pears, peaches, plums, cherries, and strawberries are depicted. Of the 220 copies printed, only eighteen of the 219 subscribed copies were for this large-paper issue, rendering it significantly rarer than the scarce regular issue. $22,500. Important Work on the Medical Qualities of American Plants 25. Strong, Asa B.: THE AMERICAN FLORA, OR HISTORY OF PLANTS AND WILD FLOWERS: CONTAINING A SYSTEMATIC AND GENERAL DESCRIPTION, NATURAL HISTORY, CHEMICAL AND MEDICAL PROPERTIES OF OVER SIX THOUSAND PLANTS, ACCOMPANIED WITH A CIRCUMSTANTIAL DETAIL OF THE MEDICINAL EFFECTS, AND OF THE DISEASES IN WHICH THEY HAVE BEEN MOST SUCCESSFULLY EMPLOYED. New York. 1848/1848/1849/1850. Four volumes. Four lithographic frontispieces; four handcolored lithographic additional titles; with 182 lithographic plates, some printed in colors, all finished by hand. Expertly bound to style in green half morocco and contemporary marbled boards, spines gilt; marbled endpapers, brown speckled edges. Very good. Strong’s book, with a total of 190 handcolored plates, catalogued the medical uses of many American plants. He was also the first American botanist to address the naturalization of many exotic new species, especially from Africa. $9750. Four Watercolors by a Student of Audubon 26. [Sprague, Isaac]: [FOUR ORIGINAL ORNITHOLOGICAL WATERCOLOR AND PENCIL DRAWINGS BY 19th-CENTURY BOTANICAL AND ZOOLOGICAL ARTIST ISAAC SPRAGUE]. [United States. ca. 1850?]. Four individual sheets, three matted and one mounted on card. Some scattered foxing, affecting two of the watercolors. Generally very good. Isaac Sprague was one of the most prolific and well-known illustrators of flora and “Blue Jay,” “Robin and Holly,” “Pine Grosbeak,” and “Savannah Sparrow.” Although fauna in 19th-century America. He is particularly remembered for accompanying none of the works is signed, each has a provenance connecting it either to a Sprague John James Audubon on his expedition up the Missouri River in 1843, aiding the descendant or to an early owner in Sprague’s native Hingham, Massachusetts. master painter with ornithological sketches and drawings. The pieces offered here are $6500. Second Edition of Cassin’s Additions to Audubon 27. Cassin, John: ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE BIRDS OF CALIFORNIA, TEXAS, OREGON, BRITISH AND RUSSIAN AMERICA. INTENDED TO CONTAIN DESCRIPTIONS AND FIGURES OF ALL NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS NOT GIVEN BY FORMER AMERICAN AUTHORS, AND A GENERAL SYNOPSIS OF NORTH AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. Philadelphia. 1862. With fifty handcolored lithographs. Original tan publisher’s cloth, rebacked with original spine laid down. Corners rubbed. Modern bookplates on front pastedown. Minor scattered foxing. Very good. Cassin intended his work to supplement that of Audubon. He had originally careful artist and observer, and his work took American ornithology to a new level suggested to Audubon’s sons a plan for extending the octavo edition of Audubon’s of technical competence, becoming the first American bird book to use trinomial Birds of America, but difficulty concerning credit on the titlepage sank the scheme, and nomenclature. The present copy is the second edition, after the first of 1853–56, with Cassin proceeded with his own publication. Cassin was a trained scientist as well as the same content. $7500. One of the Most Spectacular Color Plate Books Ever Published in the United States 28. Elliot, Daniel Giraud: A MONOGRAPH OF THE TETRAONINÆ, OR FAMILY OF THE GROUSE. New York. [1864]–1865. With twenty-seven handcolored lithographic plates. Large folio. Contemporary dark green morocco, covers elaborately gilt, rebacked preserving original gilt spine with raised bands, a.e.g., marbled endpapers. Very good. The wonderful plates for this monograph were all printed and colored by Bowen & from Elliot’s own drawings. The present work has the additional importance of being Co. of Philadelphia, best known for their work on Audubon’s Birds of America. In the one of only three by Elliot to have been printed in the United States: all of his later preface Elliot acknowledges both Bowen’s contribution and that of the lithographer, works were produced in Europe, although sometimes retaining a New York imprint. C.F. Tholey. Two of the images are by Josef Wolf, while the remaining images are $24,500. The Worthy Successor to Audubon 29. Elliot, Daniel Giraud: THE NEW AND HERETOFORE UNFIGURED SPECIES OF THE BIRDS OF NORTH AMERICA. New York. [1866]–1869. Two volumes. With seventy-two handcolored lithographic plates. Large folio. Contemporary red half morocco and marbled boards, spines gilt with raised bands, a.e.g. Very good. A spectacular work with very fine, generally life-size, handcolored lithographs of species not previously pictured by either Alexander Wilson or John James Audubon. The plates are taken from originals by Elliot and one of the greatest ornithological artists working in the second half of the 19th century, Joseph Wolf. In particular, Wolf’s image of the Iceland Falcon (the second plate in the second volume) must rank as one of the great bird portraits of all time, and is a worthy successor to the images in Audubon’s own masterpiece. $48,000. Rare and Spectacular 30. Cory, Charles B.: BEAUTIFUL AND CURIOUS BIRDS OF THE WORLD. Boston. 1883. With twenty lithographed plates (eighteen handcolored). Folio. Contemporary black morocco, gilt, gilt turn-ins, silk doublures and linings; rebacked. A few small repairs at edges, else very good. In a folding cloth box. “A very rare book” (Bennett), limited to 200 copies, with beautiful plates on a grand eight include two of the best-known extinct bird species, the Dodo and the Great scale, including some of Smith’s finest work. The work concentrates on the most Auk (also included amongst the extinct species is the Labrador Duck). The remaining spectacular bird family of all: the Birds of Paradise and their relatives, the Lyre Birds depict many unusual species, with images of the Kiwi, the Ruff, the California and the Spotted Bower. Twelve of the twenty plates are from this group. The other Condor, the Black-headed Plover, and the Sacred Ibis. $29,500. A Great Rarity of American Color Plate Books 31. Gray, Asa: PLATES PREPARED BETWEEN THE YEARS 1849 AND 1859, TO ACCOMPANY A REPORT ON THE FOREST TREES OF NORTH AMERICA. Washington. 1891 [but plates actually ca. 1849–1859]. With twenty-three chromolithographic plates (two folding). Folio. Text and plates loose, some slight chipping and staining at edges (most noticeable in the lower outer corner of plates 48 and 49). Good. In a half morocco and marbled boards box, spine gilt. Shortly after the formation of the Smithsonian Institution, the great American botanist, Asa Gray, was commissioned to produce a volume in its “Contributions to Knowledge” series on American forest trees. The idea was for a publication consisting of three octavo volumes of text and a quarto atlas. Work was suspended on the report while Gray was in Europe for two years. After this, funding could not be found, and the work as planned was never issued. In 1891, Secretary S.P. Langley decided to issue the plates which had been prepared, and the twenty-three plates which had been printed were issued with his brief explanatory introduction, after sitting unused for forty years. The lovely plates depict a variety of tree flowers and leaves, including magnolias, tulips, maples, dogwoods, cherry, apple, and plum. $5800. Rare Color Plates of Fishes 32. Harris, William C.: THE FISHES OF NORTH AMERICA THAT ARE CAPTURED ON HOOK AND LINE. WITH EIGHTY COLORED PLATES MADE FROM OIL PORTRAITS OF LIVING FISHES BEFORE THEIR COLOR TINTS HAD FADED. New York. [n.d., December 1895–March] 1898. With forty chromolithographic, one full-page uncolored illustration, ninety-four colored illustrations (most of fish) within the text. Folio. Unbound as issued, laid into original blue or grey paper wrappers, various designs on the upper outer covers, letterpress information on most of the other surfaces of the wrappers. Splits to backstrips, some other small clean tears, some light discoloration. Else very good. In a blue half morocco box. One of the two greatest illustrated ichthyological works of the 19th century. Origi- plates of fishes” (Bennett). This work was a distinct labor of love, the author spending nally intended to be completed in two volumes of eighty plates, only the first vol- twenty-five years gathering notes, and traveling nearly 30,000 miles to acquire speci- ume was ever published, containing forty “very beautifully drawn and color-printed mens to produce the handsome illustrations. $12,500. The Amsterdam Audubon 33. Audubon, John James: THE BIRDS OF AMERICA. New York & Amsterdam. 1971–1972. Four volumes. With 435 plates, printed in up to eight colors, after John James Audubon. Double elephant folio. Original brown half calf and green cloth, upper covers with calf inset lettered in gilt with author and title, spines gilt. Calf some- what scuffed. Internally fine. A viable alternative to the original Havell edition, and one of only two full-size the finest possible limited edition facsimile of the greatest bird book ever printed: facsimile editions of the complete work ever published. In October 1971, employing the Havell edition of John James Audubon’s well-loved Birds of America. Using color the most faithful printing method available, the best materials, and the ablest photolithography and specially made paper, and limited to only 250 copies, this deluxe craftsmen of their age, the Amsterdam firm of Theatrum Orbis Terrarum Ltd., in edition mimics the feel and quality of the original at a mere fraction of the cost. conjunction with the Johnson Reprint Corporation of New York, set out to produce $75,000. The First Elephant Folio Edition 34. Audubon, John James, and John Bachman: THE VIVIPAROUS QUADRUPEDS OF NORTH AMERICA. New York. 1845–1846 [but actually 1849]. Three volumes. With 150 handcolored lithographic plates. Elephant folio. Expertly bound to style in half dark green morocco and original cloth, spines gilt, marbled endpapers. Very good. This is Audubon’s final great natural history work, a collaboration with his son, States. It is the largest and most significant color plate book produced in America in John Woodhouse Audubon. Unlike the double-elephant folio edition of The Birds of the 19th century, and a fitting monument to Audubon’s continuing genius. America, which was printed in London, the Quadrupeds was produced in the United $720,000.