A General History of Quadrupeds [with] A History of British Birds. Vol. I-II

Description:

First editions. Thomas Bewick (1753-1828) was a passionate naturalist, ‘a son of nature’, as Audubon called him, a man immersed in the English countryside. He is considered as England’s most masterly engraver, and his books, A General History of Quadrupeds (first published 1790) and History of British Birds (2 vols first published 1797, 1804) are illustrated with Bewick's wood engravings. Bewick created these books with the purpose of instructing the youth, remarking on his illustrations, ‘… I illustrated them by figures delineated with all the fidelity and animation I was able to impart to mere woodcuts without colour; and as instruction is of little avail without constant cheerfulness and occasional amusement, I interspersed the more serious studies with Tale-pieces of gaiety and humour.’ (Roscoe, p. xv).

Quadrupeds, Roscoe 1b, variant A. Birds: Part I - Land Birds, Roscoe 14d, variant B [advert to final leaf is for third edition of Quadrupeds]; Part II - Water Birds, Roscoe 17d, variant E.

Condition

3 vols, demy 8vo (213x138mm), uniform cont. mottled calf, gilt-ruled and blind-stamped decorative borders, gilt tooling to edges of boards, rubbed and worn in places, sympathetically rebacked, gilt rules and blind tooling to compartments, leather title pieces, slightly faded. Quadrupeds with new endpapers; Birds with minor foxing/browning to endpapers, some light browning to text. Very good set. Birds with armorial bookplates: Samuel Hoare (1751-1825), a British Quaker, banker and abolitionist, and Charles Edward Mott-Radclyffe (1911-1992), conservative politician and member of parliament for Windsor.