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MEYER (HENRY LEONARD) Illustrations of British Birds, 4 vol., FIRST EDITION, Longman & Co., [1835-1841] image 1
MEYER (HENRY LEONARD) Illustrations of British Birds, 4 vol., FIRST EDITION, Longman & Co., [1835-1841] image 2
Lot 58

MEYER (HENRY LEONARD)
Illustrations of British Birds, 4 vol., FIRST EDITION, Longman & Co., [1835-1841]

15 June 2016, 14:00 BST
London, Knightsbridge

Sold for £5,000 inc. premium

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MEYER (HENRY LEONARD)

Illustrations of British Birds, 4 vol., FIRST EDITION, lithographed throughout, comprising title-pages, contents leaves in each volume, and 318 hand-coloured lithographed plates (313 of birds; 5 of eggs), bird plates numbered in ink in top right-hand corner and in bottom right, occasional light foxing, volume one with inserted illuminated leaf before title, presenting the book to Arthur G. Hemming in 1931, near contemporary green roan, upper covers titled in gilt, inner gilt dentelles, g.e., rubbed [Hale, The Meyers' Illustrations of British Birds, 2007, pp.139-140 etc; Nissen IVB 627; Fine Bird Books, p.93], folio (361 x 258mm.), Longman & Co., [1835-1841]

Footnotes

FIRST EDITION, with all the characteristics called for by Hale, including the 5 egg plates. Hale describes in great detail the complex publication history of the work, locating 44 copies of this edition, many of which had varying numbers of plates due to the haphazard manner in which the work was published and Meyer's constant desire to improve the illustrations. The present set has the first issues of the title-pages (no full stop after Longman & Co), and the plates are numbered in ink in the lower right-hand corner, referencing their page number in Dresser's Manual of Palæarctic Birds, 1902.

Provenance: Arthur G. Hemming, presented to him by the London Assurance, 1931; Francis Hemming, bookplate.

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