Sea-Side Walks of a Naturalist with His Children.

pp. vi, 154. Coloured frontispiece and 7 fine coloured plates by A. F. LYDON, many text wood engravings. Publisher's red pictorial cloth gilt, all edges gilt, a very good copy. THUS 5 copies offered as a collection. TOGETHER WITH : Another copy, 1870, 1st. edition, with (16) pages Ads., blue pictorial cloth with a faded patch at the top edge of the front cover affecting the first word of the title - SEASIDE. . Another copy, 1878, 3rd. edition, no Ads., book-label of RUARI MCLEAN [1917-2006, leading British typographic designer], brown cloth gilt, a different design from the above, frontispiece and 7 coloured plates, a very good copy. Another copy, 1880, 4th. edition, Groombridge catalogue at the end of pp.32, brown cloth gilt identical to the 3rd. edition but a different shade, edge tear in the frontispiece without loss, 3 other coloured plates only, else a very good copy [this is a special half-price copy for the Pure Literature Society subscribers and might explain the small number of plates]. Another copy, 1889, New edition, no Ads. or Catalogue, green cloth gilt as for 4th. edition, frontispiece and 5 plates only, a very good copy. The discrepancy in the number of plates in varying editions appears to be as issued rather than as defective copies. In the early editions, the title page calls for 8 coloured plates and these are all as called for in the respective editions. From the 4th. edition onwards, the titles do not call for 8 plates, and the plate number varies according to issue. Likewise, there are no plate lists and the plates are not numbered; it is therefore not possible to tell from the book itself how many plates ought to be present. All the copies above are tight and in good condition and there is no indication that plates have been removed.…