[NATURAL HISTORY]. ELWES, Henry John (1846-1922) and Augustine HENRY (1857-1930). The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland. Edinburgh: Privately Printed, 1906-13.

15 original parts, including index, in 7 portfolio volumes 4to. Color lithographed frontispiece in volumes I-V, photogravure frontispiece portrait of the authors in volume VII, titles within color lithographed border, 413 plates, comprising 371 photogravures of trees and 42 lithographic diagrams. Original pictorial grey wrappers printed in blue, edges uncut, housed in 7 matching cloth-backed pictorial board folders with ties (volume numbers written in manuscript on spines, some surface wear to vol. VII). Provenance: Robert Newman (ownership stamps, typed letter signed from Scottish ornithologist Hugh S. Gladstone, Dumfriesshire, 29 March 1923, tipped-in to vol. I portfolio regarding the obituary he wrote for H.J. Elwes, also tipped in).

FIRST EDITION of Elwes and Henry's monumental work which described every species of tree grown outside in the British Isles at the time of publication. They sought to record the best samples available. Henry devised a system of identification based on leaves, twigs, and the position of buds to assist with identification, and Elwes undertook many journeys, both domestically and abroad, to study trees in the wild. “The most important work of Elwes’s life was begun in 1903 when, with his friend Augustine Henry, he undertook the production of Trees of Great Britain and Ireland. Henry wrote the strictly botanical parts and Elwes contributed sections on the distribution, history, and cultivation of species, drawing on his knowledge of an immense number of species in their native habitat" (DNB). In some copies the index is bound separately, making a total of 8 volumes in the set. In this copy, the index is bound at the end of volume 7. Nissen BBI 595.

Property from the Estate of Peter Fortsas

[NATURAL HISTORY]. ELWES, Henry John (1846-1922) and Augustine HENRY (1857-1930). The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland. Edinburgh: Privately Printed, 1906-13.