$3,120
Wilson, Alexander (1766-1813) American Ornithology . Philadelphia: by Bradford and Inskeep for Carr, 1808-1814. First edition, nine folio volumes bound in three, illustrated with seventy-five of seventy-six hand-colored full-page engravings of birds (lacking Plate LXVIII), most illustrations with arrangements of several birds, larger birds sometimes pictured alone, bound in uniform three-quarter red morocco and buckram boards, the volumes of different sizes, significant plate off-setting throughout, coloring bright, browning to plates and text leaves, water stains, and other defects; page 43/44 in volume IV supplied in manuscript facsimile, page 65/66 torn with loss; in volume VIII title page is torn and repaired, the bottom half of page 13/14 torn away, the text supplied in pen facsimile, and in the same volume, page 47 torn with loss of text made up in pen facsimile; lacking Plate LXVIII (ducks); plate LXIX torn, amateurish repair on verso, page 119/120 badly torn and crudely repaired, in the first six volumes text trimmed close, sometimes touching the edge of a bird, at least two obvious cases of a print being moved from one location to another in the same volume, with old offsetting as evidence. (3) The first American bird book with colored plates by the father of American ornithology, Alexander Wilson.
Auctioneer:
Skinner
Date:
2013-11-17
