Rare books from Pemberley Natural History Books

London: Printed for William Innys, 1749. [108], 100 hand-coloured engraved plates. . HB. 4to, cont. full polished calf, gt, rubbed and a little scuffed, top and fore edges of boards neatly restored, small nick to top of spine; marbled endpapers; one plate bound inverted; some offsetting from plates to facing text pages; some occasional minor foxing. A very good copy. Provenance: Engraved bookplates of Sir Foster Cunliffe, 3rd Baronet (1755-1834), of Acton Park, Wrexham (the fortune of the Cunliffe family was made through slavery; his grandfather, also Foster Cunliffe, being the main slave trader in Liverpool), and John Blackburne (1754-1833), of Orford Hall, nr. Warrington, (MP for Lancashire 1784-1830). An inscription to the endpaper states, 'Given me by Sir Foster Cunliffe, J.B.' Blackburne's grandfather, also John (1693-1786), was a noted amateur botanist who cultivated impressive gardens at Orford, while his daughter, Anna (1726-1793), the younger John's aunt, corresponded with… Read More

London: John Murray, 1871. viii, 424, 16; viii, (2), 476, 16, 78 woodcuts in text. . HB. 2 vols, 8vo (195x125mm), orig. cloth, gt, recased retaining orig. endpapers, neat repair to head of spine of Vol. II, hinges neatly reinforced; some wear to corners + spine ends, repairs to heads of both spines, joints rubbed/repaired, inner hinges neatly reinforced. Some foxing to free endpapers, half-titles and last pages of ads. A good set. bookplate of J.J. Seekings, Holmhurst, Barnwood, Gloucester, (c. 1839-1899) owner of a marine engineering works near Gloucester Docks during the 1870s-80s.. 1st edition, 1st issue. 'The word "evolution" occurs, for the first time in any of Darwin's works, on page 2 of the first volume of the first edition …. before its appearance in the sixth edition of "The origin of species" in the following year' - Freeman (1977), p. 129. 2 vols: viii, 424, 16 (publisher's ads dated Jan 1871); viii, (2), 476, 16 (publisher's ads dated Jan… Read More

London: William Heinemann, 1909. xlviii, 372; (xvi), 418, 2 photogravure frontis, col + b/w plates, 3 folding col maps, 1 folding panorama, text figs. . HB. 2 vols, roy. 8vo, orig. cloth, teg, gilt lettering to spines; lettering and large pictorial block in silver to front boards; Vol. I rebacked preserving orig. backstrip; Vol. II with minor wear, spine slightly faded, chipped to foot. Endpapers browned. Internally clean and fresh. A good set.. With an Introduction by Hugh Robert Mill, D.SC. An account of the first journey to the South Magnetic Pole by Professor T. W. Edgeworth David, F.R.S.First edition. Shackleton's account of the British Antarctic Expedition of 1907-1909 (Nimrod). Amply illustrated throughout with photographic plates and diagrams, as well colour plates. Rear pocket to Vol. II contains 3 folding colour plates (two partially browned to verso) and a b/w panorama (slight marginal browning). Errata slip tipped-in to Vol. II. Numerous plates, collated and complete..

London: Lupton Relfe, 1822. [iii]-xiv, [2], 327, [1], 42 aquatint and engraved plates (5 hand col, including geological map). . HB. 4to, cont. half morrocco, raised bands and gilt rules to spine, rubbed and scuffed with some wear to edges of boards. Bound without half-title. title page browned. Foxing to some plates, mostly marginal, an old inoffensive water stain to bottom edge of last 11 plates. Some minor worming to several plates, mostly marginal and never affecting the printed images, neat old paper repairs to three plates. Small ink spot to edge of map and facing page.Provenance: Bookplate of George Titus Barham (1836-1913). Barham was founder of the Express County Milk Company (later Express Dairies), and had an estate in Wadhurst, Sussex. Also with one small ink stamp of the Rothamstead Experimental Station to endpaper.. First edition. Plates engraved by Mrs. Mantell from drawings by the author. Gideon Algernon Mantell (1790-1852) was an English physician and geologist. This is Mantell's… Read More

London: For B. White, 1776. (viii), 136, 50 hand-coloured engraved plates. . HB. 4to, contemporary full leather, gilt border to both boards, corners neatly restored, rebacked in sympathetic style with raised bands, gilt tooling to compartments, red leather title piece, original marbled endpapers retained. Some offsetting to plates. Provenance: From the library of Lytton Strachey (1880-1932), biographer, essayist, and member of the Bloomsbury group, with his small bookplate, designed by his lover and modernist painter, Dora Carrington (1893-1932). Following the death of Strachey (and of Carrington) the book passed to Ralph and Frances Partridge (whose names are written to the fly-leaf). Also with earlier bookplates of R.M. Trench Chiswell and Mary Constance Butler.. First Edition. English and French titles together with brief letterpress descriptions in both languages, written principally by Thomas Pennant. Pennant had previously employed Brown for two of the plates in his British Zoology. 42 of the… Read More

London: John Murray, 1875. vii, 208 + 32, 13 woodcuts to text. 8vo. HB. 8vo, orig. cloth, gt, minor wear to extemities, inner hinges cracked but firm; browning to margin of half-title; college book-plate to endpaper (no other markings). Very good copy.. Second edition, revised. First appearance in book form, and significantly enlarged (the first edition appeared in 1865 in the Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London). 32-page publisher's advertisements dated January, 1875 bound at rear.Freeman 836..

London: John Murray, 1874. xvi, 688, 78 woodcuts in text. . HB. 8vo in 12s (190x120mm), orig. green cloth, rubbed, minor wear to corners, a few ink spots to rear board; short tear to front endpaper, orig. owner's name erased to verso; later owner's name to pastedown; small ink smudge to outer margin of title; occasional light foxing; one gathering working loose, with stitching tender; small marginal stain to lower outer corner of 20 pages. A good copy. Without the Errata slip mentioned by Freeman.. 2nd edition, tenth thousand. This edition was issued as a single volume (the first edition (1871) is in two volumes), and the text is divided into three parts (rather than two in the first edition), with sexual selection in relation to man being separated off as the third part. This edition has ben extensively revised and contains a note by T.H. Huxley 'On the Resemblences and Differences in the Structure and the Development of the Brain in Man and Apes', pp 199-206. Freeman 944..

Warrington & London: Printed by William Eyres, for Benjamin White, 1776-1777. xxiii, [v], 418; [vi], [419]-786; [vi], 425, [5]; viii, [10], 154, 3 engraved titles (1 with hand-col vignette), 280 engraved plates (2 hand-col, 3 folding), 1 folding musical composition. . HB. 4 vols, 8vo, cont. full tree calf, rubbed, scuffed, some wear; rebacked preserving orig. spines, gilt tooling leather title pieces (one replaced); two hinges reinforced with paper strip. Occasional foxing, spotting or offsetting, one plate with a short closed tear (not affecting printed image); the musical plate is torn along one fold. A good set.. Fourth edition. Vol. I (1776): Class I. Quadrupeds, Class II. Birds; Vol. II (1776): Class II. Division II. Water-Fowl. With an Appendix; Vol. III (1776): Class III. Reptiles, Class IV. Fish; Vol. IV (1777): Crustacea. Mollusca. Testacea. Vols I-III with letterpress and engraved titles, Vol. 4 with engraved title only. Plates numbered, I-CIII, I-IX; I-LXXIII, XII*; I-XCIII, IXA;… Read More

London: Frederick Warne & Co., 1899-1900. xiv, 269; xii, 279; xi, 258; xi, 215, 4 plain + 319 col plates. . HB. 4 vols, roy. 8vo, orig. blue dec. cloth with floral art nouveau style design in black to front boards, gilt title to front boards and spines, teg. A little rubbed, with minor wear to extemities. Some foxing to endpapers, one title page, and occasional light spotting elsewhere. Very good set.. New Edition, revised by Edward Step. Attractive chromolithographic plates. Anne Pratt (1806-1893) was a botanical illustrator and author of a number of popular Victorian natural history books. This, her magnum opus, was first published in 6 volumes, 1850-1857..

Melbourne: Lansdowne Editions, 1980. 150; [x], 151-379, full-page colour illustrations, distribution maps. . HB. 2 vols, folio (514x370mm), orig. green full morroco, decorative design of parrot blocked to each cover, raised bands and leather title pieces to spines, housed in cloth solander case (limited light soiling). Fine condition.. <b>Collector's Issue</b> of the second (revised) edition, numbered and signed by the author and illustrator, limited to 1000 copies, this copy being #966. Vol. I: Loriinae and Cacatuinae; Vol. II: Psitacinae. Fine colour plates by William T. Cooper illustrate all species. First published in 1969, <i>Australian Parrots</i>, unites Joseph Forshaw, one of Australia's foremost ornithologists and a leading expert on parrots, and William Cooper, one of Australia's finest wildlife artists. Their collaboration produced some of the most impressive bird monographs of the twentieth century.. [9780701810344]

Kingston upon Hull: The Allen Publishing Company, 1988. [14], xix, (158), [26], 79 col + 95 b/w illus. . HB. Large-folio (620x445mm), orig. fine maroon half morocco, raised bands to spine, gt, marbled endpapers, teg, in matching slipcase. Fine - as new.. Reproductions of the original sketches and the coloured plates of Elliot's "A Monograph of the Phasianidae, or Family of Pheasants" (1872). Introduction by David M. Lank, F.R.S.A.<b>Limited to 275 numbered copies</b>, this being #108, signed by David Lank. Price on publication in 1988 was £950.Facsimile full-page reproduction of 95 charcoal field sketches of pheasants by Joseph Wolf, together with reproductions of the 79 colour plates (330x247mm) from Daniel Giraud Elliot's fine monograph on the pheasants (1872), which were based on these drawings by Wolf.. [9780948493096]

London: Groombridge and Sons, 1851-1857. iv, 364; iv, 360; iv, 391; iv, 330; iv, 315; iv, 290, 358 hand-col plates. . HB. 6 vols, roy. 8vo, cont. half calf, raised bands to spines, gilt tooling to compartments, lightly rubbed, leather title pieces, marbled endpapers and edges. Some minor wear/chipping to head/foot of a few spines. Foxing to endpapers and preliminaries, elswhere, scattered foxing, mostly light. Very good, attactive set.. First edition. This popular work on British Birds went through several editions. Includes many figures of British birds, for which the wood-blocks were engraved and printed by Benjamin Fawcett, Driffield. Francis Orpen Morris (1810-1893) was a clergyman and naturalist. He was a prolific writer on natural history subjects.Mullen & Swann, p 417; Freeman 2670; Nissen IVB, 645..

London: Thom. Cotes, 1634. [20], 1-285, 296-326, [4], Over 500 woodcut illustrations in the text + 2 unnumbered leaves of illustrations at the end. . HB. Sm. folio, recased in orig. mottled calf boards, rebacked in matching style, raised bands, leather title pieces, marbled endpaper. Minor wear to corners of boards. Occasional light browning/foxing, but this is less than often found with this work. Final page just cropped at outer edge with slight loss to two figures. Bookplates of two previous owners to endpapers.. First Edition. Text Latin. This book is the first dealing entirely with entomology to be published in the British Isles. It originated with Conrad Gesner's manuscript material on insects, which remained unpublished at the time of his death in 1565. This unpublished manuscript passed to Thomas Penny, who spent fifteen years bringing together additional material for the book, a task which remained incomplete at the time of his own death in 1588. Penny bequeathed the manuscript to… Read More

London: Printed by Taylor and Francis. Published by the Author, [1862-]1873. [12], cxl, [2], [68]; [4], [152]; [4], [140]; [4], [170]; [4], [172], 367 hand-col plates. . HB. 5 vols, imp. folio (547x352mm), 19th-century. full green morocco, raised bands, richly gilt to compartments, broad dec. gilt borders to covers, gilt tooling to turn-ins and edges of boards, aeg. One volume professionally rebacked preserving original spine, some rubbing, particularly to joints, with neat leather reinforcements to head/foot of several spines. A little foxing to endpapers and title pages, plates clean, but with a dark area (oxidation of pigment?) above the greenshank (<i>Glottis canescens</i>) with offsetting to this area from text on facing page. A very good set. Provenance: Bookplate Christopher Henry Beaumont Pease (1924-2005), 2nd Baron Wardington and of Lucy Anne Pease, his daughter.. First edition. Fine hand-coloured lithographic plates from drawings by Gould, Joseph Wolf, H.C. Richter and W. Hart,… Read More

London: Printed by Samuel Bentley [for the author], [1835-]1836. [82]; [56], 33 hand-col engraved plates. . HB. 2 parts in 1 volume, roy. 8vo (265x165mm), finely bound in recent, full, panelled calf, raised bands to spine, blind tooling to compartments, leather title pieces, marbled endpapers, binder's mark "RWD & PWD" to rear turn-in, marbled endpapers; in custom-made solander box, lined with matching marbled paper. A fine, untrimmed copy with wide margins. Occasional light edge soiling.. with some account of their habits, and occasional directions for their treatment in confinement. First edition, second issue - the first issue of both parts together, with cancel title-page (Part I had been previously issued under the title <i>The Resident Song Birds of Great Britain</i> in 1835. (The complete work was also reprinted in 1838). Rare in any form as it was published privately in small numbers. Life-size, finely hand-coloured plates, some heightened with gum arabic.… Read More