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Prideaux John Selby (1788-1867)
Illustrations of British Ornithology. Text volumes: Edinburgh, London and Dublin: W.H. Lizars; Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green, and Longman; W. Curry Jun. & Co., 1833. Plate volumes: Edinburgh and London: Archibald Constable & Co.; Hurst, Robinson & Co., [n.d., 1821] [volume I] and Edinburgh, London and Dublin: W.H. Lizars; Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green, & Longman; W. Curry Jun. & Co., 1834 [volume II]. 4 volumes, 8° (212 x 137mm) [text volumes] and 2° (636 x 512mm) [plate volumes]. Plate volumes with engraved titles by W.H. Lizars after J. Stewart and Lizars. 218 hand-coloured etched plates by W.H. Lizars, Robert Mitford and Selby after William Jardine, Mitford and Selby, coloured by Daniel McNee and others, 3 folded at foot, and 4 etched plates by and after Selby. (Text volumes: variable light browning, volume I lacking half-title, volume II, R6 with short tear touching text. Plate volumes: scattered light spotting, volume II with a few plates trimmed at margins, XCI, XCII, XCVII, XCVIII and C misbound, LXXVI and LXXXVII* with neatly-repaired short tears touching image, LXVII slit and reinforced at foot and cropped with small loss.) Text bound in contemporary green calf-backed marbled boards, the spines gilt in compartments, gilt morocco lettering-pieces (lightly rubbed), marbled edges. Plate volumes bound in contemporary green crushed morocco gilt, the boards elaborately panelled in gilt and blind, roll-tooled gilt and blind palmette borders, gilt turn-ins, the spines gilt with floral tools and lettered in gilt (a little rubbed and scuffed, skilfully rebacked retaining original spines).
'[SELBY'S] GREATEST WORK WILL EVER BE DEEMED HIS CELEBRATED ILUSTRATIONS OF BRITISH ORNITHOLOGY..., OUR ENGLISH EQUIVALENT OF AUDUBON'S FAMOUS WORK' (Mullens and Swann, p.518). Selby's interest in ornithology began at an early age, when he would draw birds seen locally while still a schoolboy, supplementing these images with notes on their lives, and beginning the remarkable collection of skins which would eventually serve as the models for these plates. The plates of Illustrations of British Birds were begun in 1821, and issued over the following 13 years in 19 parts, from which the two plate volumes in the present set (which bear watermarks ranging from 1815 to 1833) were bound up. The text was first issued in 1825 as two separate volumes: like Audubon -- who Selby had befriended in Edinburgh, and who shared a publisher in Lizars -- Selby wished to avoid distributing copies of the exspensive plate volumes to the copyright libraries, and issued the text volumes on their own, to secure the copyright at minimal expense. The fine plates were etched by Selby and his collaborators, then finished by Lizars' engravers, and coloured by a team which included Daniel McNee, a talented artist who later became President of the Royal Scottish Academy. As Christine Jackson states, 'much credit is [...] due to the engravers and printers in W.H. Lizars' firm, who went on to issue other bird books with illustrations printed from both steel and copper plates, but never surpassed the work done for Illustrations of British Ornithology' (Bird Etchings (Ithaca and London: 1989), p.212). In Jackson's opinion, 'The two volumes of Illustrations of British Ornithology are outstandingly beautiful. In many people's estimation, the clarity and crispness of his figures give them an austere beauty that is lacking in the pretty lithographs in H.L. Meyer's and John Gould's books about British birds' (loc. cit.). BM(NH) IV, pp.1895-1896; Brunet V, col.267; Fine Bird Books (1990) p.141; Mullens and Swann pp.519-520; Nissen IVB 853; Zimmer pp.571-572. (4)
Illustrations of British Ornithology. Text volumes: Edinburgh, London and Dublin: W.H. Lizars; Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green, and Longman; W. Curry Jun. & Co., 1833. Plate volumes: Edinburgh and London: Archibald Constable & Co.; Hurst, Robinson & Co., [n.d., 1821] [volume I] and Edinburgh, London and Dublin: W.H. Lizars; Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green, & Longman; W. Curry Jun. & Co., 1834 [volume II]. 4 volumes, 8° (212 x 137mm) [text volumes] and 2° (636 x 512mm) [plate volumes]. Plate volumes with engraved titles by W.H. Lizars after J. Stewart and Lizars. 218 hand-coloured etched plates by W.H. Lizars, Robert Mitford and Selby after William Jardine, Mitford and Selby, coloured by Daniel McNee and others, 3 folded at foot, and 4 etched plates by and after Selby. (Text volumes: variable light browning, volume I lacking half-title, volume II, R6 with short tear touching text. Plate volumes: scattered light spotting, volume II with a few plates trimmed at margins, XCI, XCII, XCVII, XCVIII and C misbound, LXXVI and LXXXVII* with neatly-repaired short tears touching image, LXVII slit and reinforced at foot and cropped with small loss.) Text bound in contemporary green calf-backed marbled boards, the spines gilt in compartments, gilt morocco lettering-pieces (lightly rubbed), marbled edges. Plate volumes bound in contemporary green crushed morocco gilt, the boards elaborately panelled in gilt and blind, roll-tooled gilt and blind palmette borders, gilt turn-ins, the spines gilt with floral tools and lettered in gilt (a little rubbed and scuffed, skilfully rebacked retaining original spines).
'[SELBY'S] GREATEST WORK WILL EVER BE DEEMED HIS CELEBRATED ILUSTRATIONS OF BRITISH ORNITHOLOGY..., OUR ENGLISH EQUIVALENT OF AUDUBON'S FAMOUS WORK' (Mullens and Swann, p.518). Selby's interest in ornithology began at an early age, when he would draw birds seen locally while still a schoolboy, supplementing these images with notes on their lives, and beginning the remarkable collection of skins which would eventually serve as the models for these plates. The plates of Illustrations of British Birds were begun in 1821, and issued over the following 13 years in 19 parts, from which the two plate volumes in the present set (which bear watermarks ranging from 1815 to 1833) were bound up. The text was first issued in 1825 as two separate volumes: like Audubon -- who Selby had befriended in Edinburgh, and who shared a publisher in Lizars -- Selby wished to avoid distributing copies of the exspensive plate volumes to the copyright libraries, and issued the text volumes on their own, to secure the copyright at minimal expense. The fine plates were etched by Selby and his collaborators, then finished by Lizars' engravers, and coloured by a team which included Daniel McNee, a talented artist who later became President of the Royal Scottish Academy. As Christine Jackson states, 'much credit is [...] due to the engravers and printers in W.H. Lizars' firm, who went on to issue other bird books with illustrations printed from both steel and copper plates, but never surpassed the work done for Illustrations of British Ornithology' (Bird Etchings (Ithaca and London: 1989), p.212). In Jackson's opinion, 'The two volumes of Illustrations of British Ornithology are outstandingly beautiful. In many people's estimation, the clarity and crispness of his figures give them an austere beauty that is lacking in the pretty lithographs in H.L. Meyer's and John Gould's books about British birds' (loc. cit.). BM(NH) IV, pp.1895-1896; Brunet V, col.267; Fine Bird Books (1990) p.141; Mullens and Swann pp.519-520; Nissen IVB 853; Zimmer pp.571-572. (4)
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