CATESBY, MARK. The Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands: Containing the Figures of Birds, Beasts, Fishes, Serpents, Insects and Plants... Revis'd by Mr. [George] Edwards. London: Printed for C[harles] Marsh and T[homas] Wilcox, 1754. Folio, 529 x 363 mm. (20 7/8 x 14 3/8 in.), contemporary calf gilt, upper cover of vol. 1 detached and spine broken, spine of vol. 2 split, plates offset to text, vol. 1 with marginal wormhole from p. 104 to the end, pl. 55 of vol. 1 creased, pl. 5 of vol. 2 lightly spotted, very light marginal damp(?)stain to pl. 71, light foxing to final index leaf of vol. 1 and to a few leaves of the "Account of Carolina", occasional marginal finger-soiling. Second Edition, the first edition of Edwards's revision of the text, 220 hand-colored etched plates, mostly by Catesby and most signed with his monogram, except for plates 61 [numbered 62], 80 and 96 of vol. 2 by Georg Dionysius Ehret, plate 80 double-page, double-page hand-colored engraved map in vol. 2, watermarked Crown Shield G R or J. Whatman paper, all undated; title-pages printed in red and black in English and French, bilingual text in two columns, text with ornamental woodcut initials; this copy with two single dedication leaves in English: "To the Queen" in vol. 1 and "To...the Princess of Wales" in vol. 2, the 20-pp. Appendix (pp. 101-120) and its single Index leaf (in English and Latin, with a list of the plates in French) at end of vol. 1, the 3-leaf Index to both volumes, in English, French and Latin, at end of vol. 2 and preceded by "An Account of Carolina" (numbered [i]-xliv, with "vol. II" printed on the first page of each gathering); the single leaf "List of Encouragers" from the first edition and the two leaves of the catalogue with Linnaean names from the third edition (sometimes found in copies of the book dated 1754) are not present in this copy. Ellis 477; Hunt 486 (first edition); Nissen/Zoology 842; Nissen/IVB 177; Anker 94; Wood, p. 282; Fine Bird Books, p. 65 (of the first edition: "The earliest coloured book on American birds."); Edwin Wolf 2nd, A Flock of Beautiful Birds, Philadelphia, The Library Company, 1977, pp. 5-7 ("He was the first to observe and depict North American birds in their natural settings, combining ornithological details with botanical ones"). The Rolle copy, bookplate; bookplate of Lister and Leila Carlisle. (2)

Details

CATESBY, MARK. The Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands: Containing the Figures of Birds, Beasts, Fishes, Serpents, Insects and Plants... Revis'd by Mr. [George] Edwards. London: Printed for C[harles] Marsh and T[homas] Wilcox, 1754. Folio, 529 x 363 mm. (20 7/8 x 14 3/8 in.), contemporary calf gilt, upper cover of vol. 1 detached and spine broken, spine of vol. 2 split, plates offset to text, vol. 1 with marginal wormhole from p. 104 to the end, pl. 55 of vol. 1 creased, pl. 5 of vol. 2 lightly spotted, very light marginal damp(?)stain to pl. 71, light foxing to final index leaf of vol. 1 and to a few leaves of the "Account of Carolina", occasional marginal finger-soiling. Second Edition, the first edition of Edwards's revision of the text, 220 hand-colored etched plates, mostly by Catesby and most signed with his monogram, except for plates 61 [numbered 62], 80 and 96 of vol. 2 by Georg Dionysius Ehret, plate 80 double-page, double-page hand-colored engraved map in vol. 2, watermarked Crown Shield G R or J. Whatman paper, all undated; title-pages printed in red and black in English and French, bilingual text in two columns, text with ornamental woodcut initials; this copy with two single dedication leaves in English: "To the Queen" in vol. 1 and "To...the Princess of Wales" in vol. 2, the 20-pp. Appendix (pp. 101-120) and its single Index leaf (in English and Latin, with a list of the plates in French) at end of vol. 1, the 3-leaf Index to both volumes, in English, French and Latin, at end of vol. 2 and preceded by "An Account of Carolina" (numbered [i]-xliv, with "vol. II" printed on the first page of each gathering); the single leaf "List of Encouragers" from the first edition and the two leaves of the catalogue with Linnaean names from the third edition (sometimes found in copies of the book dated 1754) are not present in this copy. Ellis 477; Hunt 486 (first edition); Nissen/Zoology 842; Nissen/IVB 177; Anker 94; Wood, p. 282; Fine Bird Books, p. 65 (of the first edition: "The earliest coloured book on American birds."); Edwin Wolf 2nd, A Flock of Beautiful Birds, Philadelphia, The Library Company, 1977, pp. 5-7 ("He was the first to observe and depict North American birds in their natural settings, combining ornithological details with botanical ones"). The Rolle copy, bookplate; bookplate of Lister and Leila Carlisle. (2)