Search Results: Natural History from Florilegius

Scarce set of all four volumes of The Class Mammalia, being Volumes 1-4 of the whole series
Complete with all 179 handcoloured and 21 uncoloured engravings of mammals and cetaceans mostly by Charles Hamilton Smith, many sketched from live or preserved specimens in European museums and zoological collections.
Ilustrations include over 20 endangered species including the chinchilla, river otter, Malayan tapir, agile gibbon, chimpanzee, lion-tailed macaque, toque macaque, African wild dog, orangutan, tiger, snow leopard, Tibetan red deer, Chinese pangolin, critically endangered screwhorn antelope, Pygmy three-toed sloth and cotton-top tamarin, and extinct Tasmanian tiger and aurochs, etc.
From the rare English-language edition of Baron Cuvier's seminal Le Regne Animal by Edward Griffith published in 15 volumes
Edward Griffith (1790–1858) was a British naturalist and solicitor. He wrote General and Particular Descriptions of the Vertebrated Animals (1821) and translated Georges Cuvier's Règne Animal… Read More

Scarce set of three volumes of The Class Aves, being Volumes 6-8 of the whole series
Complete with all 148 handcoloured and 12 uncoloured engravings of birds mostly by Charles Hamilton Smith, many sketched from live or preserved specimens in European museums and zoological collections.
Plates include the extinct Labrador duck, Camptorhynchus labradorius, endangered green peafowl, Pavo muticus, and yellow cardinal, Gubernatrix cristata, and many other exotic species.
From the rare English-language edition of Baron Cuvier's seminal Le Regne Animal by Edward Griffith published in 15 volumes
Edward Griffith (1790–1858) was a British naturalist and solicitor. He wrote General and Particular Descriptions of the Vertebrated Animals (1821) and translated Georges Cuvier's Règne Animal (1827–35). He was one of the original members of the Zoological Society, and a fellow of the Linnean, Antiquaries, and Royal Societies.
Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Hamilton Smith (1776-1859) was an English artist, naturalist,… Read More

Very good copy of Sowerby's answer to George Shaw's The Naturalist's Miscellany
Complete with all 76 plates (two folding) finely handcoloured engravings by this prolific artist
Includes "new, rare, or little known animal subjects many not before ascertained to be inhabitants of the British Isles and chiefly in the possession of the author." There are strange parasites that prey on sand bees or sprats, sea urchin, Norway king crab, Sowerby's beaked whale, sea worms and sea fans, a rare narwhal with two tusks, starfish, cuttlefish, beetles, flies, corals and sponges, a water shrew, ducks, brown trout, bee-eaters and grebes.
This is the re-issue from Bernard Quaritch with new title page and corrected and completed index "after the purchase of the [original] stock in May 1875"
New title page, corrected index, original title page, dedication to Francis Lord Seaforth and James Brodie Esq. (who supplied specimens to the author), preface, corrected index (duplicate), 60 handcoloured plates and 1-132 text… Read More

Complete set with 144 fine bird plates drawn, engraved and hand-coloured mostly by George Graves, (A few plates after Samuel Howitt and Sydenham Edwards, and engraved by Weddell and Warner.)A nice set of this study of British birds, with many songbirds, game birds, owls and hawks, divers, waders, and sea birds.Second edition of first two volumes (originally published in parts from 1811 and 1821), but first edition of the complete set (the third volume first appearing in 1821).With the title typo: British Ornithology, Being the History, with a Coloured Representation, of Every Kown [sic] Species of British Birds.George Graves (1784-1839), FLS, was an English publisher, artist, engraver and colourist who worked on botanical and ornithological works. Apart from British Birds (1811-1821), he also wrote and illustrated Ovarium Britannicum (1816), The Naturalist's Pocket Book (1817), and A Monograph on British Grasses (1822). From 1817, he oversaw the hand-colouring and publishing with William Jackson… Read More

Very good set of the Mammals and Birds volumes from Cuvier's huge Dictionary of Natural Sciences bound in one
Complete with all 100 engraved plates of mammals and 119 engraved plates of birds
Animals include the extinct quagga and white-fronted icterus. Birds include the extinct orange-wattled kokako, Alagoas curassow and Cuban red macaw.
All the illustrations by Jean-Gabriel Prêtre, under the direction of Pierre Jean François Turpin, and engraved by Louis Massard, his wife Madame Massard and daughter Mademoiselle Massard, Mademoiselle Coignet, Rebel and his wife Madame Rebel, Carnonkel, David, Victor, Guyard, Plee, Bourey, etc.
Part 1 Mammifères: Title page, 13pp (table of plates, index), 100 engraved plates; Part 2 Ornithologie: Title page, 16pp (table of plates, index), 119 engraved plates.
Part of Cuvier's massive Dictionary of Natural Sciences that was published in 60 text volumes and 13 plate volumes from 1816 to 1830.
Jean-Gabriel Prêtre (1768-1849) was a Swiss-French natural history… Read More

Very good copy of the Birds volume from Cuvier's huge Dictionary of Natural Sciences
Complete with all 119 hand-coloured stipple engraved plates of birds
Birds include the extinct orange-wattled kokako, Alagoas curassow and Cuban red macaw.
All the illustrations by Jean-Gabriel Prêtre, under the direction of Pierre Jean François Turpin, and engraved by Louis Massard, Madame Rebel, Guyard, Bourey, Giraud, Coutant, etc.
Ornithologie: Title page, 16pp (table of plates, index), 119 handcoloured engraved plates.
Part of Cuvier's massive Dictionary of Natural Sciences that was published in 60 text volumes and 13 plate volumes from 1816 to 1830.
Jean-Gabriel Prêtre (1768-1849) was a Swiss-French natural history painter who illustrated a large number of books for Cuvier, Louis Pierre Vieillot, René Primevère Lesson, Comte de Lacépède, Richard Achille, and many other French zoologists.
Pierre Jean François Turpin (1775-1840) was a French botanist and illustrator. He is considered one of the greatest… Read More

Very good copy of the Fish and Reptiles part from Cuvier's huge Dictionary of Natural Sciences
Complete with all 125 hand-coloured stipple engraved plates of fish and reptiles
Includes critically endangered species such as the sawfish or carpenter shark, Ganges crocodile or gharial, great crested newt, Mexican axolotl, Martinique lancehead and European eel. Also includes the endangered geometric tortoise and green sea turtle.
All the illustrations by Jean-Gabriel Prêtre, under the direction of Pierre Jean François Turpin, and engraved by Louis Massard, Mlle. Massard, Madame Leroy, Plee, Victor, Joyeau, Louvier, Mlle. Louvier, Forestier, Dion, Prudhon, Guyard, Giraud, etc.
Poissons et Reptiles: Title page, 16pp (tables of plates, index), 85 handcoloured engraved plates of fish, 40 handcoloured engraved plates of reptiles.
Part of Cuvier's massive Dictionary of Natural Sciences that was published in 60 text volumes and 13 plate volumes from 1816 to 1830.
Jean-Gabriel Prêtre (1768-1849) was a… Read More

Very good copy of the Worms and Zoophytes part from Cuvier's huge Dictionary of Natural Sciences
Complete with all 116 hand-coloured stipple engraved plates of Vermes and Cnidaria
All the illustrations by Jean-Gabriel Prêtre, under the direction of Pierre Jean François Turpin, and engraved by Louis Massard, Plée, Joyeau and Madame Joyeau, Victor, Coignet and Mlle. Coignet, Louvier and Madame Louvier, Torquati, Mlle. Perrot, etc.
Vers et Zoophytes: Title page, 32pp (tables of plates, index), 48 handcoloured engraved plates of tubeworms, bristleworms, and other marine creatures, 68 handcoloured engraved plates of coral animals, jellyfish, sea anemones, sea pens, sponges, etc.
Part of Cuvier's massive Dictionary of Natural Sciences that was published in 60 text volumes and 13 plate volumes from 1816 to 1830.
Jean-Gabriel Prêtre (1768-1849) was a Swiss-French natural history painter who illustrated a large number of books for Cuvier, Louis Pierre Vieillot, René Primevère Lesson, Comte de Lacépède,… Read More

Very good copy of the Shells volume from Cuvier's huge Dictionary of Natural Sciences
Complete with all 114 hand-coloured stipple engraved plates of cephalopods and molluscs, including octopus, squid, shellfish, mussels, cones, cowries, volutes, sea snails, ammonites, nautilus, etc.
All the illustrations by Jean-Gabriel Prêtre, under the direction of Pierre Jean François Turpin, and engraved by Louis Massard, Madame Rebel, Guyard, Bourey, Giraud, Coutant, etc.
Conchyliogie et Malacologie: Title page, 36pp (table of plates, index), 4 engraved plates and 114 handcoloured engraved plates of marine creatures
Part of Cuvier's massive Dictionary of Natural Sciences that was published in 60 text volumes and 13 plate volumes from 1816 to 1830.
Jean-Gabriel Prêtre (1768-1849) was a Swiss-French natural history painter who illustrated a large number of books for Cuvier, Louis Pierre Vieillot, René Primevère Lesson, Comte de Lacépède, Richard Achille, and many other French zoologists.
Pierre Jean… Read More

Very good copy of the Insects and Crustaceans part from Cuvier's huge Dictionary of Natural Sciences
Complete with all 118 hand-coloured stipple engraved plates of entomology and carcinology
All the illustrations by Jean-Gabriel Prêtre, under the direction of Pierre Jean François Turpin, and engraved by Louis Massard, Victor, Prudhon, Madame Guyot, Forestier, Joyeau, etc.
Insectes et Crustacés: Title page, 16pp (tables of plates, index), 60 handcoloured engraved plates of insects, beetles and butterflies, 58 handcoloured engraved plates of crabs and shrimp.
Part of Cuvier's massive Dictionary of Natural Sciences that was published in 60 text volumes and 13 plate volumes from 1816 to 1830.
Jean-Gabriel Prêtre (1768-1849) was a Swiss-French natural history painter who illustrated a large number of books for Cuvier, Louis Pierre Vieillot, René Primevère Lesson, Comte de Lacépède, Richard Achille, and many other French zoologists.
Pierre Jean François Turpin (1775-1840) was a French botanist and… Read More

Very good copies of Volumes 3 and 4 only of the very rare four-volume, first edition of this beautiful German entomological classic.
Complete with 189 beautifully handcoloured engraved plates in two volumes. (The four-volume set contains 438 plates.)
Engraved and delicately hand-coloured by Johann Carl Bock, Johan Georg Sturm, Johann Georg Klinger, and others, after drawings by Esper.
Esper's illustrations depict the complete life cycles of many European butterflies and moths, many along with their host plants. Many specimens are shown in pupa, larva (caterpillar) and adult forms, while some adult butterflies and moths show alternate sides (upper and lower) of their wings on the left and right wings.
Volume 3: 1782, 396 text pages, 81 handcoloured plates I-LXXIX.
Volume 4: 1786, 372 text pages, 108 handcoloured plates LXXX-CLXXXIII (Noct. 1 to 104).
Eugen Johann Christoph Esper (1742-1810) was a German zoologist, entomologist and phycologist, professor of zoology at Erlangen and director of the… Read More

Very good copy of the increasingly hard-to-find monograph on the extinct dodo, Raphus cucullatus, and Rodrigues solitaire, Pezophaps solitaria.First edition of this finely illustrated classicComplete in two parts: Part I. History and External Characters of the Dodo, Solitaire and other Extinct Brevipennate Birds by H. E. Strickland, and Part II: Osteology of the Dodo and Solitaire by A.G. Melville. With two hand-coloured lithographs after the famous 17th-century paintings of the dodo by Roelandt SaveryAltogether 18 lithographic illustrations (Numbered I-XV with three bis plates III*, IV*, and IX*) of dodo and solitaire specimens, landscapes, bones, skulls and reconstructions drawn and lithographed by Joseph Dinkel, Tuffen West and Werner, as well as nine woodcuts in the text. With errata slip and 12-page catalogue of new books in rear. Hugh Edwin Strickland (1811-1853) was an English geologist, ornithologist, naturalist and systematist. His works include Outline of the Geology of the Neighbourhood of… Read More

Very good copy of this classic of 18th century entomology, the first book on British beetles.

Complete with 42 finely hand-coloured copperplates of beetles, arrayed on the pages like specimens in a tray in a cabinet of curiosities.

The plates show some previously unpublished beetle and bug species, many in their tiny original size. The European stag beetle, minotaur, dung beetles, carrion, leaf and weevil beetles, click beetles, tumbling flower beetles, tiger beetles, water beetles, longhorns, carabids, ladybirds, and many others are shown in beautiful colors in 535 intricate illustrations.

The two plain numismatic plates show various gold medallions presented to Martyn from the Pope, Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II, King Ferdinand IV of Sicily, Queen Maria Carolina of Naples, etc.

The English Entomologist, exhibiting all the Coleopterous Insects found in England, including upwards of 500 Different Species, arranged and named according to the Linnean System.

With an engraved title page, dedication… Read More

Odd volume of one of the most beautiful miniature entomological books every published, Georg Panzer's Faunae Insectorum Germanicae Initia oder Deutschlands Insecten, circa 1800.Volume VIII, with 157 handcoloured copperplates, Pl.1130-1286, Scarabaeus cylindricus to Rhinomacer lepturides.Handwritten title page and index to parts 190 to 206b, 157 plates with printed explanatory text pages.
Georg Wolfgang Franz Panzer (1755-1829) was a German entomologist, physician in Hersbruck and lecturer at the Collegium Medicum in Nuremberg. "There does not exist a more accurate or useful work. The figures are drawn and etched by the famous Jacob Sturm, the best entomological artist on the continent" (Swainson).
Bookplate of Donald MacGillavry, a famous Dutch collector.
Small loss to top of spine and part of leather title on spine, binding solid, text and plates mostly clean and bright, stain to plate 1165, and 8cm loss to top of text to plate 1276, Curculio gracilipes.

Incomplete set of five volumes with 932 plates (out of 2640) of one of the most beautiful miniature entomological books ever published, Georg Panzer's Faunae Insectorum Germanicae Initia.
Vol. II: 236 plates, unnumbered, no text, Callidium alni to Cimes tristis
Vol III: 190 plates, unnumbered, no text, Cistela antennata to Cynips aurata
Vol. IV: 181 plates, unnumbered, no text, Dermestes afer to Ips rufipes
Vol. VI: 210 plates, unnumbered, no text, Necydalis adusta to Rhagio trinarius
Vol. VIII: 115 plates, unnumbered, no text, Tabanus bovinus to Ypsilophus cylindricus
Bookplate of C.A. Briggs, Lynmouth, Victorian entomologist
Georg Wolfgang Franz Panzer (1755-1829) was a German entomologist, physician in Hersbruck and lecturer at the Collegium Medicum in Nuremberg. "There does not exist a more accurate or useful work. The figures are drawn and etched by the famous Jacob Sturm, the best entomological artist on the continent." (Swainson)Green leather spines faded and worn, half spine missing on volume… Read More

Very good copy of Lesson's seminal work on hummingbirds
Complete with all 66 handcoloured stipple engraved plates based on the drawings of Jean-Gabriel Prêtre and Louis Bévalet, printed in color, and finely hand-finished by Rémond (Ronsil: Bibliographie Ornithologique Française)
X (dedication to Cuvier), 196 pages of explanatory text, 66 plates bound at rear on hinges: (Colibris: 1-25 with 2 bis plates; Supplement des Oiseaux-Mouches: 1-39)
First edition of one part of René Primevère Lesson's study of exotic birds in their natural habitat made aboard the Coquille on its world voyage, 1822-1825. As second surgeon on the scientific circumnavigation, Lesson was responsible for the botanical and zoological goals of the expedition. His work on hummingbirds was authorative. He described over 100 species of hummingbirds, out of the 330 known today, and his illustrations were copied by Sir William Jardine in his Naturalist's Library.
René Primevère Lesson (1794-1849) was a French surgeon, naturalist,… Read More

Two complete volumes of the most important Renaissance study of zoology in Latin.

Volume 2, Oviparous Quadrupeds including reptiles and amphibia, and Volume 3, Birds, bound together in one.

With a total of 2 title vignettes and 241 woodcuts, many full-page, credited to Lucas Schan.

Historiae Animalium LIber II: De quadrupedibus oviparis, second edition, Frankfurt, Johann Wechel for Robert Cambier, 1586. 4 ff., 119 pp. with 19 woodcuts.

Historiae Animalium LIber III: De avium natura, first edition, Frankfurt, Johann Wechel for Robert Cambier, 1585. 6 ff., 806 pp. with 222 woodcuts, 13 ff.

The majority of the bird illustrations are believed to be by Lucas Schan, active 1526-58, a natural history artist and wildfowler of Strasbourg.

The woodcut of the Pica Bresillica, or toucan, is "based on a beak sent to Gessner by Giovanni Ferrerio, and the rest of the body was reconstructed from Thevet's Les singularitez de la France antarctique. " The lesser bird of paradise may have been drawn from a specimen… Read More

Scarce four-volume set of the plate volumes to Felix-Edouard Guérin-Méneville's Iconographie du règne animal de G. Cuvier, (Iconography of the Animal Kingdom by G. Cuvier). Lacking the text volume as often.
Total of 440 (of 448) handcoloured copperplate engravings and two engraved portraits of Cuvier and Latreille (lacking the portrait of Guerin)
The plates were printed and hand-coloured by Remond, engraved by Jean-Dominique-Étienne Canu and Eugene Giraud after illustrations by Edouard Travies, Felix-Edouard Guérin-Méneville and Louis Victor Bévalet
The stipple engraved plates very finely coloured by hand, finished with gum arabic, some fish plates highlighted with silver.
The series was a complement to Georges Cuvier and Pierre André Latreille's Le Regne Animal which was published without illustrations until the famous disciples' edition. Guerin aimed to "draw from life the most remarkable species of each genus of animals," and often depicted species that had not been previously figured.… Read More

A beautiful copy of Ernst Haeckel's influential book on natural history that married art and science.First complete book edition following the original edition in parts published from 1899-1904. With the 51-page supplement. 100 fine plates, some printed in colour, chromolithographed by Adolf Giltsch after sketches by Ernst Haeckel. "First edition of this famous and marvelous work which had a considerable influence on decorative design in the Jugendstil and Art Nouveau period during the beginning of the 20th century and depicts fantastic, real forms and structures found in animal and plant life." Many artists of the era, such as French glass designers Emile Galle and Rene Lalique, kept a copy of Haeckel's illustrations at home. French architect Rene Binet incorporated forms of Radiolarians in his work on the Porte Monumentale at the 1900 Paris Exposition. Dutch architect Henrick Petrus Berlage designed a chandelier based on Discomedusae jellyfish. German photographer Karl Blossfeld also explicitly… Read More

A beautiful copy of Ernst Haeckel's influential book on natural history that married art and science.

Set of the first five (5) parts only.

With 50 beautiful chromolithographed plates in the original printed wrappers and pictorial box.

The 50 fine plates, some printed in colour, chromolithographed by Adolf Giltsch after sketches by Ernst Haeckel.

"First edition of this famous and marvelous work which had a considerable influence on decorative design in the Jugendstil and Art Nouveau period during the beginning of the 20th century and depicts fantastic, real forms and structures found in animal and plant life."

Many artists of the era, such as French glass designers Emile Galle and Rene Lalique, kept a copy of Haeckel's illustrations at home. French architect Rene Binet incorporated forms of Radiolarians in his work on the Porte Monumentale at the 1900 Paris Exposition. Dutch architect Henrick Petrus Berlage designed a chandelier based on Discomedusae jellyfish. German photographer Karl… Read More