A Natural History of Birds. Illustrated With a Hundred and one Copper Plates, Curiously Engraven from the Life. Published by the Author… and carefully colour’d by his Daughter and Self, from the Originals, drawn from the live Birds
A SUBSCRIBER'S COPY OF THE FIRST COLORED-PLATE BIRD BOOK
Albin, Eleazar [and William Derham]. A Natural History of Birds. Illustrated With a Hundred and one Copper Plates, Curiously Engraven from the Life. Published by the Author… and carefully colour’d by his Daughter and Self, from the Originals, drawn from the live Birds. London: Printed for the Author: And Sold by William Innys, John Clarke, and John Brindley; 1731. First edition, first issue.
Pot folio (10 ¾” x 8 ¾”, 272mm x 223mm): binder’s blank, A4 B-Cc2, binder’s blank [$1 signed; –A1, +A2]. 54 leaves, [8] (title, blank, 2pp. dedication, 2pp. to the reader, 2pp. subscribers), 96, [4] (2pp. Dr Derham’s observations (with errata at the end), 2pp. index). With 101 hand-colored etched-engraved plates, plus the subscriber’s inventory of plates (not filled in) tipped in to the recto of pl. 1.
Bound in contemporary green morocco, with a gilt roll border and gilt urn corner-ornaments to the boards. Spine divided into six “panels.” Title gilt to red morocco in the second “panel.” Guilloche gilt to red morocco in the fourth “panel.” Gilt fillet to the edges of the boards. Gilt inside dentelle. Marbled end-papers. Edges of the text-block spotted red.
Boards starting at the tail. Fore-corners bumped and worn. Scattered scuffing and spotting. Two plates with a closed tears, repaired. Infrequent foxing. Altogether a nice copy.
Albin (d. 1742) is something of a shadowy figure — if an indisputably important one — in British natural history illustration. Perhaps of German extraction, Albin nevertheless insinuated himself with the British aristocracy. The Birds was dedicated to Sir Robert Abdy, third Baronet of Albyns (whence, perhaps, Albin drew his English name). Abdy’s connections allowed Albin access to the collections of the Duke of Chandos and Joseph Dandridge. Indeed, so much did his ambit of specimens expand, and so successful was this first venture, that he would print two further volumes (1734, 1738) bringing the total number of plates to 306.
William Derham (1657–1735) is best known for his 1696 Artificial Clockmaker, the great English book on watches. He was the first to measure the speed of sound (with apologies to Sir Isaac) and a theologian besides. Derham’s name would be listed on the title-page of later editions; in the present state his name only appears above his additional observations (Cc1). He had previously collaborated with Albin on his book of English insects — rather impressive credentials for someone not generally associated with biological sciences.
Here begins the great tradition of books of colored engravings of birds that would flourish in Britain for another two centuries, achieving its pinnacle with Gould and Audubon. The origins are humble; only 89 sets of colored plates were delivered to the subscribers (including the Duke of Devonshire, Lord Chief Justice Eyre and Sir Hans Sloane; the presence of the checklist of plates, issued separately, obviously implies that this is a subscriber’s copy). The book does not claim to be exhaustive; indeed, Albins asks readers to pitch in: “I shall be very thankful to any Gentleman that will be pleased to send any curious Birds (which shall be drawn and graved for the second Volume…)” (A3v).
BM(NH) p. 25; Mengel 33; Mullens & Swann pp. 8-9; Nissen IVB 14; Sitwell, Fine Bird Books p. 71.
Item #6JLR0036
Price: $18,000