Arctic Zoology, Vol. I. Introduction. Class I. Quadrupeds; Vol. II. Class II. Birds [with] Supplement to the Arctic Zoology

London: Henry Hughs, 1797. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good. Three volumes in two, with the supplement bound in at the end of Volume II. 4to, 9.25 x 11.75 inches, with wide margins. Volume I: pp [10], cc, [6], 185, [1]. Volume II: pp [2], [187]-586, [14]; Supplement, vii, 163. Collated and complete with frontispiece, two vignette title pages, two folding maps, and 23 full page plates (one folding). In a contemporary binding of red sheepskin with gilt decoration on spines and gilt borders on front and rear boards, gilt inner dentelles, marbled endpapers. Boards scuffed and rubbed, chip missing from head of spine, a few pages with old repairs to margins, scattered foxing, especially to the folding maps. Elliott Coues, in his 1892 Key to North American Birds, wrote: "A great landmark -- one of the most conspicuous of the last century -- was set up with the appearance in 1785 of the second volume of Pennant's 'Arctic Zoology.' The whole work, in three quarto volumes with many plates, 1784-87, was 'designed as a sketch of the Zoology of North America.' ... Pennant treated upwards of 500 nominal species of North American birds. ...We are so accustomed to see 'Linn.' (Linnaeus) and 'Gm.' (Gmelin) after the names of our longest-known birds that we almost unconsciously acquire the notion that Linnaeus and Gmelin were great discoverers or describers of birds in those days. But the men who made North American ornithology what it was during the last century were Catesby, Edwards, Forster, Pennant, Latham, and Bartram." Volume 2 includes description and illustration of several extict species, including the Passenger Pigeon, Eskimo Curlew, and Great Auk, all of which were still extant at the time these volumes were published. In addition to the pioneering work on birds, the work is notable for its descriptions of Steller's sea cow, obtained directly from explorers who observed the animals before their extinction, as well as for apparently the first published illustration of a North American musk-ox. Welsh naturalist Pennant originally conceived of these volumes as “North American Zoology” but changed the title and focus after the loss of the British colonies. Sabin 59757; Lada-Mocarski 38; Arctic Bibliography 13291.