LEAVES FROM THE BOOK OF NATURE, CONTAINING THE PRINCIPAL ILLUSTRATIONS IN JARDINE'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY

JARDINE, WILLIAM

Published by W. H. Lizars; London: S. Highly; Dublin: W. Curry [1846], Edinburgh, 1846

About this Item

570 x 440 mm. (22 1/2 x 17 1/4"). [2] leaves of text. Contemporary green half morocco over buckram, rebacked to style, smooth spine, gilt title label, hinges reinforced with library tape. With hand-colored pictorial title page and 117 HAND-COLORED PLATES containing 1,655 figures of mammals (419), birds (505), fishes (218), and insects (513). Front free endpaper with ink presentation inscription to Hugh Arthur Birley from his godfather Charles Jacson of Barton; rear flyleaf with mounted near-full-page article on the death of Charles Jackson from the Preston Guardian, 7 October 1893; rear endpapers with two mounted broadsides describing the new church bells in Bishop's Tawton, dated March 1853. â Buckram lightly chafed, extremities somewhat worn, but the solidly restored binding completely tight (even if not handsome); the two text leaves following the title somewhat foxed (and the first plate with mild foxing from contact with that text), a few additional tiny imperfections, but a remarkably fine and fresh copy internally, with the attractively colored plates unusually clean and bright. An unexpectedly pleasing copy of the kind of book that could easily have gone to wrack and ruin. Unrecorded by major bibliographies, this immense volume comprises the rarely seen oversized version of the illustrations done for Sir William Jardine's celebrated 40-volume octavo "Naturalist's Library." Our volume has 117 plates containing 1,655 hand-colored engraved figures--nearly 400 more than are included in the set for which they were created. (The "Naturalist's Library" first appeared in individual volumes from 1833-43 and again at the same time as the present "Leaves from the Book of Nature"; each of the 1845-46 publications was issued by Jardine's brother-in-law, engraver W. H. Lizars, who had worked on Audubon's "Birds of America.") The plates here feature figures of mammals, fish, birds, and insects that are fully colored against an uncolored (but detailed) background, an arrangement that makes the species under discussion stand out as clearly delineated. Scottish naturalist William Jardine (1800-74) was well-connected in his chosen discipline, and drew on the expertise of many leading naturalists and zoologists, including his friend, ornithologist John Selby. He contributed to a number of the era's popular naturalist publications, producing "Magazine of Zoology and Botany" with Selby and George Johnston, editing Alexander Wilson's "American Ornithology," and preparing a new edition of Gilbert White's "Natural History of Selborne" that brought the work to fresh prominence. The present volume was presented to Hugh Arthur Birley (1846-1924) by his godfather, Lancashire cotton mill owner Charles Jacson (1817-93), who apparently had a very exalted idea of picture books for children. Hugh's parents did an admirable job keeping the book safe from its young owner, and, as a result, the plates retain all their original, undefaced charm. Birley evidently admired his godfather all his life; Jacson's full-page newspaper obituary is mounted on the rear flyleaf here. Our folio volume is a feast for the eyes, and it is not too surprising that only one other complete copy has sold at auction since 1989, fetching £7,800 (all in) at Bonhams in 2011. Seller Inventory # ST19879

Bibliographic Details

Title: LEAVES FROM THE BOOK OF NATURE, CONTAINING ...

Publisher: W. H. Lizars; London: S. Highly; Dublin: W. Curry [1846], Edinburgh

Publication Date: 1846