Thomas Bewick. A History of British Birds. Charles Henry Cook, Newcastle, 1832.

Price: US$128.09 + shipping

Description: Volume 1, Containing the History and Description of Land Birds. Rebound in green boards with gilt titling to the spine. Includes a small booklet to the front of the book from 1838 of recently published books, along with an attached newspaper cut out from 1905. Previous owner has stuck a list of the editions of Bewick's books to the page before the title page. Contents very clean, with occasional spots of foxing. Several black and white illustrations throughout. Edges untrimmed and lightly foxed. Binding tight. Overall a very good copy, perfect as a gift. pp386

Seller: St Marys Books And Prints, Stamford, United Kingdom

Thomas Bewick.. A History of British Birds. 2 volumes. Land Birds, Water Birds.. R. E. Bewick/ Charles Henry Cook, Newcastle, 1832, 1832.

Price: US$160.11 + shipping

Condition: Very Good

Description: Reprint. Hardback. 2 vols. Octavos. xl, 386; xxii, 424pp. Bound in full contemporary leather with gilt spine titles, marbled endpapers. Slight wear and rubbing, foot of spine to vol. 1. chipped, otherwise a very good, solid set with clean contents. Bookplate to pastedown with ink names to endpapers.

Seller: ROBIN SUMMERS BOOKS LTD, Aldeburgh, United Kingdom

BEWICK, Thomas. A History of British Birds. 2 Volumes (Set). Volume I: Containing the History and Description of Land Birds. Volume II: Containing the History and Description of Water Birds. Charles Henry Cook, 1832.

Price: US$192.13 + shipping

Condition: Good

Description: ~Bookplate to Volume I. Endpapers uncracked at gutters. Half black polished calf, re-backed in matching calf with original back-strips laid down. 2 original gilt labels per Volume. Fine floral decorated green cloth to boards. General moderate wear. Eleven illustrations annotated in an early nineteenth-century, very disapproving, possibly Evangelical hand, e.g 'cruel', 'profane', 'the dreadful sin of suicide', 'drunkenness is a sin'.~Robust packaging. Overseas tracking available on request. Size: xl, 386 + xxii, 424pp. Many illus

Seller: St Philip's Books, P.B.F.A., B.A., Oxford, United Kingdom

Bewick, Thomas. A History of British Birds. (Two Volumes: History and Description of Land Birds (Vol. I); History and Description of Water Birds (Vol. II)). Printed by Charles Henry Cook, for R. E. Bewick; Sold by Him, Longman and Co., London; and All Booksellers., Newcastle, England, 1832.

Price: US$250.00 + shipping

Condition: Very Good

Description: Two volumes, complete. Contemporary brown full leather binding with gilt lettering on red spine labels (two spine labels per volume). Small gilt decorations on spine and edges of covers. Five slightly raised bands. Marbled endpapers (multicolored with predominant color of blue-green). All edges marbled. 5 1/2" x 8 3/4." All pages of both volumes, complete. Vol. I: xl, [1] 2-386. Vol. II: xxii, [1] 2-424. Many black-and-white illustrations in both volumes, complete. Small (perhaps contemporary) bookseller's ticket on blue paper tipped in upper-left corner of front pastedown of Vol. I: "Bain, Bookseller, 1. Haymarket." Former owner's black-and-white illustrated with coat of arms tipped in on front pastedown of each volume: "Edwd. Beaumont [Penn?]." Former owner's signature in black ink on a front flyleaf of each volume. Pages are very clean and intact except slight fading to marbled edges, light age toning throughout, a few pencil annotations, and light to moderate foxing (most of the foxing is concentrated on the flyleaves and first few pages of text in front and back of each volume). Covers have light to moderate wear to edges and corners, light rubbing, and several surface scratches and marks on front and back. Binding is tight. Very Good copies. Thomas Bewick (c. 1753-1828) was an English wood engraver and natural history writer. This is a two-volume set of his A History of British Birds. Vol. I contains the History and Description of Land Birds (first published in 1797). Vol. II contains the History and Description of Water Birds (first published in 1804). A History of British Birds is perhaps Bewick's best-known work and was a forerunner of the modern field guide. It was arguably the first field guide aimed toward a general audience. Both volumes describe birds found in Britain. In writing these volumes, Bewick drew upon his own knowledge and observations of the natural world as well as those of acquaintances, gentry, and other works of natural history. Each bird featured herein is accompanied by brief text that typically varies between one paragraph and two or a few pages. Many of the birds are also illustrated through Bewick's delightfully meticulous engravings. Bewick has also added decorative engraved tail-pieces which show country scenes of various character: a bird playfully stoops over to gaze at a bottle floating in the water (p. 99, v. 1); a mouse skitters by a sleeping cat (p. 41, v. 1); countrymen and -women tend to everyday labors (pp. 167 and 200, v. 1); ruins stand like stoic sentinels over the countryside (p. 70, v. 1); a man has hanged himself over a river (p. 61, v. 1); and a farm scene is obscured by Bewick's cheeky signature formed by his own fingerprint (p. 230, v. 1). In each volume, birds are first organized by general "type" such as birds of prey, "birds of the pie kind," "of the grosbeak," "of the bunting," "of the heron," "of the auk, or penguin," and "of the petrel." Each bird within that "type" is then described in its own entry. The following is a sampling of the birds described or represented in the volumes: peregrine falcon, tawny owl, rook, mountain linnet, field lark, nightingale, turtle dove, peacock, partridge, night heron, water ouzel, puffin, spotted guillemot, Arctic gull, shearwater, "wild swan," harlequin duck, cormorant, and "golden-winged paroquet [parakeet]."

Seller: Barry Cassidy Rare Books, Sacramento, CA, U.S.A.

Thomas Bewick. A History of British Birds. Charles Henry Cook for R. E. Bewick, Longman and Co, Newcastle, 1832.

Price: US$576.39 + shipping

Description: An exceptionally bright copy of Bewick's classic work of ornithology. Illustrated throughout by the author, and with both volumes bound in one. An excellent copy of the two volume 1832 Newcastle edition of natural historian Thomas Bewick's detailed study of the natural history of British birds. First published in 1797, Bewick's extraordinarily popular work is present here with both volumes bound in one in a bright, rebacked, full calf binding.Illustrated throughout with vignette wood engravings, the work of Bewick himself, who's wood engravings of birds were praised by John Ruskin as 'masterly'.Bound without half-titles.The first posthumously published edition of this influential work, synonymous with early nineteenth century ornithology. In a full calf binding. Rebacked; original boards restored. Internally, firmly bound. Pages generally bright, with light spotting and handling marks. Very Good Indeed

Seller: Rooke Books PBFA, Bath, United Kingdom

BEWICK, Thomas. A History of British Birds. Charles Henry Cook, Newcastle, 1832.

Price: US$650.00 + shipping

Description: 2 volumes. Illustrated with hundreds of in-text engravings. xl, 386; xxii, 424pp. Bound in full contemporary brown calf with red and black spine labels (leather rubbed but sound and attractive; light scattered foxing). Newcastle: Printed by Charles Henry Cook, for R.E. Bewick, 1832. Very good(+). Volume 1 - Land Birds. Volume 2 - Water Birds. Bewick's unsurpassed wood-engravings are considered to have been the high-water mark of his artistic career. DNB.

Seller: Argosy Book Store, ABAA, ILAB, New York, NY, U.S.A.