Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Price: US$578.95 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: 3 volumes, cvii, 408 + 390 + 523 pp., frontis. portrait of Wilson in the first volume, uniformly bound in cloth boards with a leather backstrip (hardcovers), wear to spines and covers but textually clean and complete with all plates. There is some minor age-toning to some plates, but they are overall very good. - If you are reading this, this item is actually (physically) in our stock and ready for shipment once ordered. We are not bookjackers. Buyer is responsible for any additional duties, taxes, or fees required by recipient's country. Photos available upon request.
Seller: Zubal-Books, Since 1961, Cleveland, OH, U.S.A.
Price: US$750.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: 25641. Cloth. octavo. 3vols. With a continuation by Charles Lucian Bonaparte; notes etc. by Sir William Jardine Bart. Illustrated with b&w engravings. Worn boards; very slight staining on a very few pages.
Seller: Moe's Books, Berkeley, CA, U.S.A.
Alexander Wilson. American Ornithology (Three Volume Set). Whittaker, Treacher & Arnot, 1832.
Price: US$900.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: 1832 Whittaker, Treacher & Arnot, three volume set, half-bound in green leather with marbled boards and raised bands on spines, marbled endpapers and edges, corners rubbed, leather torn on corners of Volume II, spines faded, illustrated with color plates, index, 408, 390, and 523 pages
Seller: Stone Soup Books, Camden, ME, U.S.A.
Price: US$1250.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: 3 volumes. All three bound in faded red bookcloth (nearly brown now) with gold lettering on black leather labels on the spines. This appears to be a professional re-bind from the mid-1900s, done appropriately and modestly. All three bindings study and tightly bound and in very good condition, though not flashy. Front endpaper of the first volume has Tom Lovejoy's name written in blue/green ink, along with date (1964) and New Haven, Conn (where he was attending Yale). Volume 1 has cvii + 408 pages. Volume 2 has vii + 390 pages. Volume 3 has viii + 523 pages. All the plates appear to be present, securely bound in their assigned places. Some have some mild foxing. Wilson's landmark work was first published by subscription from 1808-1813. It was reissued as a 4 volume set in England in 1831 & then again as a 3 volume set in the US in 1832 (this edition). The plates are in original black and white (some editions are hand-colored). This volume comes from the collection of Dr. Thomas Lovejoy, who was a passionate book collector as well as a renowned biologist. His collection recently came to auction near Washington DC, as we were fortunate to purchase a portion of it, which we're proud to offer here. Please email with questions or to request photos. If you see a photo beside this listing, please be aware that it s an ABE Stock Photo (whatever that is) and not a photo of this book. Some extra shipping will be necessary for this 3 volume set.
Seller: Riverby Books, Fredericksburg, VA, U.S.A.
Price: US$1750.00 + shipping
Description: Calf boards backed in morocco. Uppers with blind framing and Trinity College (Cambridge) gilt stamps. Spines with 5 raised bands, gilt lettering in compartments 2, 3, and 5, remaining decorated in gilt with 3 different bird motifs stamped in gilt. Gilt dentelles. Marbled pasted and free endpapers. All edges gilt. , Regarded as the greatest American ornithologist before Audubon, Alexander Wilson (1766 ?1813) was a Scottish-American poet, ornithologist, naturalist, and illustrator. George Ord dubbed him the ?Father of American Ornithology?, Size : 8vo. (220 x 145 mm). , Very good example of this set, complete in 3 volumes. Complete with 98 brightly handcoloured plates, including frontispiece of Wilson in vol I, lovely handcoloured bird frontispieces in vols II and III. Illustrations are dynamic and expressive, depicting birds hunting or with kill (including other birds), with young, in flight, etc. Vol I front hinge split after title., Volume : 3 volumes, [Vol I] Blank (2). Half title. Blank (2). Frontispiece. Title. Printer?s imprint. Contents (v-vii. Blank. Life of Alexander Wilson (ix-cvii). Blank (2). Pp. 1-408 pp. Blank (2). [Vol II] Blank (2). Half title. Blank (2). Frontispiece. Title. Printer?s imprint. Contents (iii-vii). Blank. Pp. 1-390. Blank (2) [Vol III] Blank (3). Frontispiece. Title. Printer?s imprint. Contents (iii-viii). Pp. 1-521. Blank (3).
Seller: Alexandre Antique Prints, Maps & Books, Toronto, ON, Canada
Price: US$2750.00 + shipping
Description: Handsomely bound in 3 volumes with quarter leather spines and leather tips. The spines have raised bands decorated with gilded bird designs and motifs. With marbled paper-covered boards. All edges gilded. With the discrete bookplate of H.B. Rogers on the front paste-downs. The hinges are solid, but tender; the text is very clean throughout except for foxing to the frontispiece and the title page; also there are faint, brownish transfers of the bird images from the plates to their adjacent white, creamy pages, as the set was issued without tissue guards. Illustrated with an engraved portrait frontispiece of Alexander Wilson in his shooting costume and 97 fine hand-coloured plates. Magnificent color lighographs by Wilson thrill the reader with suprise after surprise. Pre-dating Audubon, "This was the first American work to use color plates to convey scientific information, and the first real combination of text and color illustration produced in the United States. The project's success proved that an American audience would support such a large undertaking. Works of natural history and science, with a concrete function, proved to be more commercially viable in America than luxury works such as view books" (Reese 3.) Wood (page 630) notes that the text is a reprint of Wilsons original text including the later notes by Jardine as well as a reprint of the first three volumes (all then published) of Bonapartes American Ornithology. The original plates of both authors were re-engraved by Lizars on a smaller scale on glazed drawing paper. Wood also notes that the backgrounds of the plates were left uncoloured. This is by far the best edition of the American Ornithology, both on account of the beautiful plates and the most interesting notes of the editor (Neville Wood, quoted in Allibone, A Critical Dictionary of English Literature) Early edition, 1832, first thus in this format.
Seller: Brainerd Phillipson Rare Books, Holliston, MA, U.S.A.