Details
LORD, Thomas (1755-1832). Lord's Entire new System of Ornithology or Oecumenical History of British Birds. London: by the author, 1791[-1796].
2° (440 x 276mm). Engraved title, 114 FINE HAND-COLOURED ENGRAVED PLATES AFTER AND BY LORD. (8 plates and 9 leaves of text supplied from a smaller copy, neat repairs to tears in blank margins and outer corners of 14 text leaves, plate LXI lightly creased.) Contemporary speckled calf gilt (expertly rebacked with the original spine laid down by Bernard Middleton). Provenance: Arthur V.H.Vaughan-Lee.
FIRST EDITION of a work that is OF THE "UTMOST RARITY COMPLETE" (Mullens and Swann). Lord is best known to posterity as the original proprietor of the eponymous cricket ground: he was also a sportsman and amateur painter, born in Thirsk, Yorkshire. He began his career as a groundsman, and established his own cricket ground in 1797. In 1814 he transferred to the present site of Lord's. In 1830 he retired to West Meon near Petersfield in Hampshire and took up farming, he died in 1832. The text of the present work is of questionable value, but the plates have an undeniable quality and grace that allow this work to stand out amongst its contemporaries (there is however no explanation in the text as to why plate LXV The Drake depicts the duck with an egg balanced precariously on its head!). The last complete copy to appear at auction (before the Bradley Martin copy in 1989) was in December 1915. The work was issued in 38 parts, each of 3 plates and 3 leaves of text, between 30 May 1791 and 10 October 1796. Incomplete copies are most fequently found lacking some or all of the last 12 plates issued. Fine Bird Books p.91 (calling for 111 plates); Mullens and Swann p.358; Nissen IVB 572.
2° (440 x 276mm). Engraved title, 114 FINE HAND-COLOURED ENGRAVED PLATES AFTER AND BY LORD. (8 plates and 9 leaves of text supplied from a smaller copy, neat repairs to tears in blank margins and outer corners of 14 text leaves, plate LXI lightly creased.) Contemporary speckled calf gilt (expertly rebacked with the original spine laid down by Bernard Middleton). Provenance: Arthur V.H.Vaughan-Lee.
FIRST EDITION of a work that is OF THE "UTMOST RARITY COMPLETE" (Mullens and Swann). Lord is best known to posterity as the original proprietor of the eponymous cricket ground: he was also a sportsman and amateur painter, born in Thirsk, Yorkshire. He began his career as a groundsman, and established his own cricket ground in 1797. In 1814 he transferred to the present site of Lord's. In 1830 he retired to West Meon near Petersfield in Hampshire and took up farming, he died in 1832. The text of the present work is of questionable value, but the plates have an undeniable quality and grace that allow this work to stand out amongst its contemporaries (there is however no explanation in the text as to why plate LXV The Drake depicts the duck with an egg balanced precariously on its head!). The last complete copy to appear at auction (before the Bradley Martin copy in 1989) was in December 1915. The work was issued in 38 parts, each of 3 plates and 3 leaves of text, between 30 May 1791 and 10 October 1796. Incomplete copies are most fequently found lacking some or all of the last 12 plates issued. Fine Bird Books p.91 (calling for 111 plates); Mullens and Swann p.358; Nissen IVB 572.