Vignette title, viii, 456pp.
Some 200 wood engraved figures of quadrupeds and some 100 wood engraved tailpieces.
First edition in later half green morocco over marbled boards with marbled pastedowns and later endpapers. Raised bands on spine with morocco label. Gilt tooling.
Spine lightly sunned. Head and tail of spine rubbed as is joint in places. Corners somewhat scuffed.
Edges marbled.
Internally, generally very good with some light damp staining mainly from title page to P. 18. Occasional finger marks and very occasional brown marks. Discreet repair to P.6 which had a small closed tear. A very small piece (approx 1cm x 1.5cm) missing from fore edge of P.7 (not affecting text).
No markings except for 3 small marginalia in pencil on IV and very old sale price and “first edition” marked in pencil on first blank.
Interesting to note that on P.376 The Opposum of New South Wales is not labelled with the result that the catchword on P.375 is incorrect which suggests that this copy is a variant. (see images).
Thomas Bewick (1753-1828) was an English wood engraver and natural history author. Early in his career he took on all kinds of work such as engraving cutlery, making the wood block for advertisements, and illustrating children’s books. He gradually turned to illustrating, writing and publishing his own books, gaining an adult audience for the fine illustrations in A History of Quadrupeds (https://en.wikipedia.org)
Very Scarce First Edition
- Binding Condition: Very good
- Overall Condition: Good+
- Size: 8vo. 21x 13 cms approx
