Prev / Next

Books, Autographs & Prints

Thursday 09 March 2023 e Friday 10 March 2023, 03:00 PM • Rome

198

Jardine, William

The Naturalist's Library, 1866

Estimate

€ 2.500 - 3.000

Sold

€ 3.225

The price includes buyer's premium

Information

Edinburgh, W.H. Lizars, 1866. In 8°. Antiporte, title pages, additional title pages engraved with vignettes, over 1200 engraved plates, mostly in color, blushes and flourishes, contemporary binding in half green leather and cardboard with gilt decorations on the spines and title on red label, defects on headphones. Ex libris on the front cover, from the "Library of A.G.Brice New Orleans".

Specialist Notes

A fine copy of this encyclopaedic work, published over several years.
Sir William Jardine, 7th Baronet of Applegarth, was a Scottish naturalist, elected a member of numerous societies, including the Royal Society, the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the Linnaean Society of London and the Society of Antiquaries. After studying medicine at the University of Edinburgh, Jardine's interests turned to botany, geology, ornithology and other branches of the natural sciences. Jardine coined the term "ichnology" and was the first to write a book on the subject. His private natural history museum and library were considered the finest in Britain at the time.
Jardine's greatest achievement was perhaps that to make natural history accessible to all members of Victorian society through the Naturalist's Library. Published by his brother-in-law, the Edinburgh printer and engraver William Home Lizars, the series proved popular and accessible. His collaborators also included John Ray, Thomas Bewick, Prideaux John Selby and many other giants of naturalistic science of the time.