A Rare Complete Set of Jardine's The Naturalist's Library, With Hand-Colored Plates

Sir William Jardine, ed. THE NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. (40) volumes (complete). Edinburgh: W. H. Lizars and London: Henry G. Bohn, several vols. n.d., the rest 1840-1865. Various editions. Uniformly bound in half calf over marbled paper-covered boards, gilt-tooled spines with gilt-lettered labels, with marbled endpapers, and all edges marbled. 12mo. Comprising: Ornithology (14 vols.); Mammalia (13 vols.); Entomology (7 vols.); and Icthyology (6 vols.). With memoirs of naturalists included. Each volume with engraved portrait frontispiece, title with vignette (many hand-colored), and title page; with in-text illustrations and approximately 1,276 engraved plates, with two folding, most hand-colored, and with tissue guards. Ayer/Zimmer, p. 324-6.

Each 6 3/8 x 4 3/8 in.

A Private North Carolina Collection

Sturdy boards with general scuffing and wear, especially at edges; spines with minor creasing and occasional chipping to ends; some joints with rubbing and a few with small cracks or tears; infrequent mild gutter and hinge wear, but with one volume with detachment from text block starting; interiors with very light toning, occasional handling wear, and infrequent spotting and grime, overall the pages are extremely clean; a few volumes with staining, a slightly loose leaf, wear at inner margin of title page, and detached tissue guards; two volumes with a few leaves present but detached. A lovely and delightful set with striking and extensive illustrations.