British Diving Ducks (2 Volume Set)

First and only edition, strictly limited to 450 numbered sets, this being copy No. 309. Two volumes, large folios (approx. 410mm x 320mm). Vol I: xv, 141 pp. Vol II: xii, 164 pp. Complete with a magnificent suite of 74 plates across both volumes, featuring the world-class wildlife artwork of Archibald Thorburn, O. Murray Dixon, H. Grönvold, and the author himself. • Vol I Collation: Complete with 22 coloured plates, 8 photogravures, and 2 collotypes (32 plates total). • Vol II Collation: Complete with 17 coloured plates, 6 photogravures, and 19 collotypes (42 plates total). All plates across both volumes retain their original, protective tissue guards. Binding & Condition Report: Bound in the publisher’s original maroon cloth with bright gilt titles to the spines. Top edge gilt (TEG). External bindings remain in very good, structurally sound condition; spines show characteristic uniform sunning/fading as is common with this work, with light shelf wear to the spine tips, tails, and board corners. Internally, both volumes are exceptionally clean, crisp, and tightly bound. Pages and plates are in very good condition with only the occasional, minimal spot of foxing. A highly attractive, completely original set of a monumental natural history masterwork. John Guille Millais was one of the most remarkable naturalists and wildlife artists of the late Victorian and Edwardian eras. He was the seventh child of Sir John Everett Millais, the famous Pre-Raphaelite painter, and his wife, Effie Gray. Raised between London and Perthshire, young Millais developed a lifelong passion for the natural world. As a boy, he collected wildfowl along the Scottish coast, a pursuit that formed the foundation of a massive private museum in Horsham containing over 3,000 avian and mammalian specimens. An artist of the highest calibre, Millais was celebrated for the "minute realism" and absolute anatomical precision of his bird and mammal portraiture—a trait undoubtedly inherited from his Pre-Raphaelite upbringing. His monographs, including The Mammals of Great Britain and Ireland (1904) and British Diving Ducks (1913), remain monumental achievements in British natural history publishing, highly prized for their scientific accuracy and peerless aesthetic beauty. Hand-inscribed in ink on the front free endpapers of both volumes: "A. Archibald Hagart Speirs, Christmas 1918". This set was highly likely to have been originally owned by Captain Alexander Archibald Hagart-Speirs (1869–1958) of Elderslie and Houston House, Renfrewshire. A prominent member of the famous Glasgow "Tobacco Lord" dynasty, Hagart-Speirs was an orthodox physician, a Captain in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Scotland (1929–1931), and Lord Lieutenant of Renfrewshire (1943–1950). A wonderful local association copy with a significant post-WWI Armistice Christmas dating. Please note: This is an exceptionally heavy folio set. Secure, tracked, and insured shipping will be calculated and; extra postage may be required for overseas transit.…