| 8vo, uniform early brown calf and marbled boards, raised bands, gilt lettering plus small ornaments in spine compartments, texts with 57 engraved plates with contemporary hand-coloring plus extra engraved title in each volume with vignette also hand-colored. Bindings fair to better, old wear and scuffing to boards and edges, spines partly scuffed with some loss of gilt, partial tear at ends of several joints, texts rather sound, light to moderate foxing, few hinges cracked, some text signatures sprung, plates with decent coloring, several with short tears.
Volumes arranged by type, with mammals in Volume I, fish and marine life in Volume V, insects plus amphibians and reptiles in Volume VI, etc. Some of the plates are beyond the norm; one must check the ourang outang sharing a glass of wine with young couple seated at small table (though the two children playing with the black snake, or the man boxing with the kangaroo also rate attention). Volumes do not include plate list and there is obviously a frontis missing from Volume I. See pictures. |