Lot 215
South Africa - Smith, Sir Andrew
Rare Books, Manuscripts, Maps & Photographs
Auction: 19 June 2018 at 12:00 BST
Description
Illustrations of the Zoology of South Africa, consisting chiefly of Figures and Descriptions of the Objects of Natural History collected during an Expedition into the Interior of South Africa, in the years 1834, 1835, and 1836. London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1849. 4 volumes, 4to: Reptilia: 78 plates, (75 hand-coloured; plate 30, 42, & 48 uncoloured); Mammalia. 52 plates (48 hand-coloured; plate 8 bis, 15, 21 & 25 uncoloured; plates 18 and 37 not published - See Mammalia Index list); Pisces: 31 plates, (26 hand-coloured; plate 19, 23, 28, 29 & 30 uncoloured); Aves: 114 hand-coloured plates, 275 lithographic, 4 engraved, one aquatint, most by and after George H. Ford, [total 275 plates (263 hand-coloured)], tissue guards, original green embossed ribbed cloth, spines gilt, a very few plates slightly spotted, base of spines slightly worn; lacking Invertebratae with its 4 hand-coloured engraved plates
Footnote
Provenance:The Library of a Country House.
Note: Issued in 28 parts between 1838 and 1849, and described by Mendelssohn as a 'handsome and valuable work' giving 'full particulars of the natural history subjects of South Africa collected by Dr. Andrew Smith's expedition' with illustrations by George Ford 'of a very high order.' Plates 18 and 37 in the Mammalia were not published. The final volume usually contains both Pisces and Invertebratae; in this instance it is lettered and contains 'Pisces' only. Fine Bird Books 108; Nissen ZBI 3868 and IVB 880; Mendelssohn II, p. 327