The Natural History of Selbourne, in the County of Southampton; with Engravings, and an Appendix

Book Description

London: T. Bensley for B. White and Son. 1789. 4to. H Full Morocco. Fine. 4to, full crushed dark green morocco by Birdsall with a Grolieresque gilt design of arabesque triple gilt fillets and concentric vines. The spine, pleasantly sunned to brown, is banded and gilt-ornamented with lettering in gilt. All edges gilt. Inner gilt fillets and ornaments and moire silk endpapers. Plates with minor spotting. Imprints on the frontispiece and one engraving have been trimmed in binding. With the errata leaf, hee appearing after the author's Advertisement. Slipcase. Fine copy of the first edition and the only edition appearing in the author's lifetime. Nine copperplate engravings plus an extra folding engraving ("Copy of a Picture Presented to the Church of Selbourne by Benjamin White, Esq.). Folding frontispiece, two title page vignettes, four full page views and two illustrations of natural history as called for in the plate list plus the extra engraving. Gilbert White was a pioneering naturalist, ornithologist, diarist, record keeper and a clergyman. He is regarded by many as England's first ecologist. This work, written with charm as well as scientific accuracy and a classic in English literature, has never been out of print. It consists of two series of private letters to friends of similar interests and a series on the "Antiquities of Selborne." Martin, Bibliography of Gilbert White, pp.90-97. Grolier One Hundred, 62.

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