J t harrow (1 Ergebnisse)

Folio (298 x 197mm), pp. [xvi], 3-267, [2] table of animals, [15] index; 40; title page in red and black; with additional engraved title (by Richard Waller) and 35 plates, of which 30 are in the first part and five are in the second; a very good copy in contemporary calf (rebacked, corners a bit worn, modern labels). First edition, reissued with a redated title page in 1701, and then again in 1702, with a slightly altered title (The natural history of animals): this is the only edition. The work is a translation of Perrault's Memoires pour servir à l'histoire naturelle des animaux (1671-76), containing 35 fine plates of animals: these are not the French plates, as printed by the Imprimerie Royale, but must have been recreated by copying from the originals they are close copies, but perhaps lacking some of the finesse of the Paris edition. Alexander Pitfeild (1659-1728) had been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1684. Richard Waller, Secretary of the Society from 1687 to 1714, was his brother-in-law, and as he apparently designed the title page, which is signed 'R. Waller fec', he may have been responsible for the plates as well as his biographer in ODNB says, 'among the fellows he became known for his artistic skills'. Wing P1582A. Provenance. Inscription on upper pastedown of Anne Mainwaring, dated 8 May 1751.…