The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne and A Garden Kalendar Vol. I-II

Description:

Limited illustrated edition of 160 copies, of which only 150 were for sale. This is copy no. 123. With an Introduction to the Garden Kalendar by the Very Reverend S. Reynolds Hole, Dean of Rochester. Signed by the editor, R. Bowdler Sharp, and the artists - J. G. Keulemans, Herbert Railton, & Edmund J. Sullivan. Gilbert White (1720-1793) is widely regarded as a founding father of ecology. He was a pioneering naturalist and forerunner of all modern natural historians, and author of one of the most published and popular books in the English language, The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne (first published in 1789). Since that time, it has never been out of print and is reported to be one of the most published books in the English language. Charles Darwin claimed that he ‘stood on the shoulders’ of White, and came on ‘a pilgrimage to Selborne’ as a young man in June 1857. Numerous great English writers and naturalists have been influenced by Gilbert White, such as the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who called White’s ‘Natural History of Selborne’ a ‘sweet delightful book’.

Condition

2 vols, 4to (260x200mm), finely bound by Bickers & Son of London in contemporary full green morocco, slightly edge-worn. Selborne scene with Gilbert White blocked in gilt on the front boards, and harvest mouse to the rear boards. Two faint marks to the front board of the first volume. Rebacked with the original spines retained (slightly darkened), raised bands, decorative gilt tooling. Top edges gilt. Moiré silk covered pastedowns and endpapers (silk partially separating from the endpapers). Tissue guards browned. Occasional light foxing. Lacks one of the two facsimile letters. A splendid set of this natural history classic.