Bible Beasts and Birds

Description:

Edition de Luxe (first published in 1854). Rare. Illustrated with 22 plates of animals from the Bible by Mrs Hugh Blackburn, photographed from the originals and printed in platinotype (platinum printing). Jemima Blackburn [née Wedderburn] (1823-1909) was a painter and illustrator, regarded as one of Scotland's first major women artists of the modern period (MacDonald, 113). John Ruskin thought of her, according to a letter from Effie Ruskin, 'as the best artist he knows' (Lutyens, 113-14). Blackburn had always held a keen interest in natural history, and Charles Darwin acknowledged that it was she who first recorded how the young cuckoo ejects its rivals from the nest (Darwin, Origin of Species, 6th edn, 1882). (ODNB).

Condition

4to, rebound in later antique-style half-calf, raised bands, gilt title to spine, marbled boards and endpapers. All edges gilt. Minor stain to the outer edge of the first plate, not affecting the illustration; occasional minor foxing. A fine copy.