The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne, in the County of Southampton. To which are added, The Naturalist's Calendar; Observations on Various Parts of Nature; and Poems

Description:

New (3rd) edition. This edition often referred as the Mitford's quarto edition, as it contains notes on pages 543-548, by the Rev. J. Mitford. Martin states 'It is the most complete of the older editions..' The work includes 12 fine engravings, including the folding frontis-piece, 8 full page plates (one hand-coloured) and 3 vignettes in the text. 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’.

[Martin, p. 103]

Condition

4to (276x211mm), later green half morrocco by R.H. Porter, raised bands to spine, gt.; edges uncut; extremities lightly scuffed; marbled endpapers. Original printer’s wrappers retained with remnants of orig. paper title piece pasted down. Some browning and offsetting from plates. Very good untrimmed copy. Armorial bookplate of British ornithologist and bibliographer, W.H. Mullens (1866-1946). Also with armorial bookplate of Robert Holt Leigh (1762-1843), 1st Baronet Leigh of Whitley and Member of Parliament.