[Natural History] Wilson, Alexander, and Charles Lucian Bonaparte. American Ornithology; or, The Natural History of the Birds of the United States

London: Whittaker, Treacher, & Arnot/Edinburgh: Stirling & Kenney, 1832. In three volumes. First Jardine edition. 8vo. cvii, (i), 408; vii, (i), 390; viii, 523 pp, including half-titles. Illustrated with an engraved portrait frontispiece of Wilson on India paper in first volume and 97 hand-colored engraved plates throughout set (two used as frontispiece in second and third volumes), by W.H. Lizars, after Wilson, Titian R. Peale, and A. Rider. Three-quarter green morocco over marbled paper-covered boards, decorated in blind and in gilt, spines browned, boards unevenly browned; joints and extremities rubbed; rear board of first volume detached; all edges gilt; matching marbled endpapers; light offsetting from plates; repaired closed tear, top edge L4 in third volume; bookseller's ticket on rear paste-down of each volume (John Hitchman, Birmingham). From the family libraries of Americana collectors and bibliophiles Amor L. and Zachary T. Hollingsworth. Anker 534; Sabin 104598

First Jardine edition of Alexander Wilson's famous work on American birds. This edition is a reprint of Wilson's work, with notes by Scottish naturalist Sir William Jardine, with the beginning of Bonaparte's Continuation in the third volume. The plates have been re-engraved by W.H. Lizars (known, among other things, for his early work on Audubon's The Birds of America) after Wilson's drawings to a higher standard than previous editions. Notably, some plates in Bonaparte's text are after Titian Peale, son of Philadelphia portraitist, naturalist, and proprietor of the storied Philadelphia Museum, Charles Willson Peale.

This lot is located in Philadelphia.

[Natural History] Wilson, Alexander, and Charles Lucian Bonaparte. American Ornithology; or, The Natural History of the Birds of the United States