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Alexander Wilson (1766-1813)
Details
Alexander Wilson (1766-1813)
American Ornithology; or, the natural history of the birds of the United States. New York & Philadelphia: 1829. Atlas volume of plates only (lacking 3 text volumes), 2° (388 x 300mm). letterpress title, otherwise engraved throughout. 76 fine hand-coloured engraved plates by A. Lawson, J.G. Waricke, G. Murray and B. Tanner after Wilson. (Occasional light spotting.) Contemporary American red straight-grained morocco, covers with quadruple-fillet border in blind, with small flower-heads in gilt at each coner, the upper cover with centrally-placed title in gilt, the spine in five compartments with double raised bands, the bands decorated in gilt and blind (some scuffing to extremites). Provenance: Valentine Mott (1785-1865, surgeon, inscription on title 'Valentine Mott 25 Park Place New York'); General & Mrs. A. Mott (inscription, dated 1869, on verso of plate 7).
A VERY FINE COPY WITH A DISTINGUISHED PROVENANCE OF THIS PIONEERING WORK BY THE 'FATHER OF AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY': THE COLOURING OF THE PLATES IS VASTLY SUPERIOR TO THAT OF THE FIRST EDITION, THROUGH A COMBINATION OF BETTER PIGMENTS AND HIGHER QUALITY PAPER STOCKS. 'The first new edition of Wislon's entire work, first published between 1808 and 1814, here arranged in the systematic sequence of the species, not in the irregular order of the original... The handcolored drawings in the Atlas are from the original copper-plates (with the addition of the number added backwards to pl. 44; missing in the original), colored anew from fresh or preserved material, with pigments which seem to have been of better qulaity than those used by Wilson. In the copy at hand, the colors are as bright and fresh as if lately applied, whereas in the copy examined of the original, there are few tints that have not suffred and some which have completely disappeared. An examination of the clearest of the originals and the copy, shows that there are some differences in coloration of the two, aside from those due to fading' (Zimmer pp.681-2). Valentine Mott trained in New York, London and Edinburgh and gained a world-wide reputation, in the days before aenesthetic, as a fast, skilful, innovative and succesful surgeon. His wife erected a building to house the Mott Memorial Library in New York following his death in April 1865. Fine Bird Books; Nissen IVB 992; Wood p.630; Zimmer p.681.
American Ornithology; or, the natural history of the birds of the United States. New York & Philadelphia: 1829. Atlas volume of plates only (lacking 3 text volumes), 2° (388 x 300mm). letterpress title, otherwise engraved throughout. 76 fine hand-coloured engraved plates by A. Lawson, J.G. Waricke, G. Murray and B. Tanner after Wilson. (Occasional light spotting.) Contemporary American red straight-grained morocco, covers with quadruple-fillet border in blind, with small flower-heads in gilt at each coner, the upper cover with centrally-placed title in gilt, the spine in five compartments with double raised bands, the bands decorated in gilt and blind (some scuffing to extremites). Provenance: Valentine Mott (1785-1865, surgeon, inscription on title 'Valentine Mott 25 Park Place New York'); General & Mrs. A. Mott (inscription, dated 1869, on verso of plate 7).
A VERY FINE COPY WITH A DISTINGUISHED PROVENANCE OF THIS PIONEERING WORK BY THE 'FATHER OF AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY': THE COLOURING OF THE PLATES IS VASTLY SUPERIOR TO THAT OF THE FIRST EDITION, THROUGH A COMBINATION OF BETTER PIGMENTS AND HIGHER QUALITY PAPER STOCKS. 'The first new edition of Wislon's entire work, first published between 1808 and 1814, here arranged in the systematic sequence of the species, not in the irregular order of the original... The handcolored drawings in the Atlas are from the original copper-plates (with the addition of the number added backwards to pl. 44; missing in the original), colored anew from fresh or preserved material, with pigments which seem to have been of better qulaity than those used by Wilson. In the copy at hand, the colors are as bright and fresh as if lately applied, whereas in the copy examined of the original, there are few tints that have not suffred and some which have completely disappeared. An examination of the clearest of the originals and the copy, shows that there are some differences in coloration of the two, aside from those due to fading' (Zimmer pp.681-2). Valentine Mott trained in New York, London and Edinburgh and gained a world-wide reputation, in the days before aenesthetic, as a fast, skilful, innovative and succesful surgeon. His wife erected a building to house the Mott Memorial Library in New York following his death in April 1865. Fine Bird Books; Nissen IVB 992; Wood p.630; Zimmer p.681.
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