Beschreibung:

WILSON, Alexander (1766-1813). American Ornithology; or the Natural History of the Birds of the United States. Illustrated with plates engraved and coloured from original drawings taken from nature... with a sketch of the author's life, by George Ord. New York & Philadelphia: Collins & Co. and Harrison Hall, 1828-1829. 4 volumes (text: 3 vols., 8 o [235 x 138 mm.]; plates: broadsheet [375 x 292 mm.]). 4pp. list of subscribers at end of text vol.III. 76 hand-colored engraved plates after Wilson by A. Lawson, G. Murray, J.G. Warnicke and B. Tanner. (Occasional light browning or spotting to plates, light browning to blank margins of text volumes.) Contemporary half morocco gilt over marbled paper-covered boards (extremities of text vols. II and III scuffed, spine torn and upper joint split of text vol.I, plate vol. worn with covers detached, spine torn with loss, extremities rubbed). SECOND FULL EDITION OF WILSON'S GROUND-BREAKING WORK: the text was revised by Wilson's friend George Ord, who supplied a biography of Wilson for the first volume, added notes and rearranged the text systematically by species. The plates in this issue are superior to those in the first: they are printed on higher quality paper and colored using better pigments. The plates did not appear until the year following the start of the publication of the text, the publishers explained that "the cause which has so unexpectedly delayed the completion of th[e] work ... has arisen solely from the impossibility of obtaining a sufficient number of artists competent to colour the plates in the style promised by the Publishers." Fine Bird Books p.114; Nissen IVB 992; Sabin 103598; Wood 630; Zimmer 681. (4)