Popular British Ornithology 1849 (1853)

The only book which Gosse wrote describing the birds of his native country.

It is one of the Popular Natural History Series, 24 volumes in all.

The spine floral gilt design is uniform throughout the series, in all but the very late cases, but the gilt design on the front board varies with the subject of the volume. The brass used to make the gilt impression on this volume is an exceptionally fine example of its kind.

The colour plates, which include more than seventy figures, were drawn and lithographed by Gosse, largely from specimens in the British Museum. and are of considerable quality. The figures were hand-coloured.

The second edition of 1853 differs from the first only by the addition of a half-title leaf and a list of plates.

Freeman and Wertheimer describe two case variants in the second edition, neither of which includes the variant held in my library, which is of green bead.

Apart from the colour of the boards, my book is the same as number 37 in Freeman and Wertheimer.

There is a binder’s ticket, Westley’s & Co, diamond shaped.

Natural History: Birds

Freeman and Wertheimer note that this is the second of a five-volume set of little natural histories for young people; the others being Mammalia, Reptiles, Fishes and Mollusca. (See the previous Gosserie blog.)

In 1860, the publisher (Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge) requested Gosse to revise the work and it was ordered to be reprinted.

The undated edition is the revised work. The book in my collection is the edition dated 1849, and is therefore to be acknowledged as a first edition.

The book is full of woodcut illustrations, with Gosse himself contributing the most by far.

Some of the woodcuts contain the names of Whimper (pp. 25, 34, 71, 88, 110, 145, 153, 165, 201, 214, 221, 228, 232, 257, 306, 321) and S. Read (p. 137). Two of them, the green tody (p. 41) and the long-tailed humming bird, are redrawn from Illustrations of the birds of Jamaica. 

The book in my collection has a case of dark purply-brown morocco, with blind ornamental frames on both boards.

Details to the back of the title page and on the rear end paper inform us that the printer was S. & J. Bentley, Wilson & Fley, Bangor House, Shoe Lane, London.

The woodcuts are far too numerous to be reproduced here in their entirety. A selection of Gosse's own work is shown below.

© John Dunn.

Natural History: Mammalia

Freeman and Wertheimer note that this is the first of a five-volume set of little natural histories for young people; the others being Birds, Reptiles, Fishes and Mollusca.

Freeman and Wertheimer also note that although all five are uniform in titles and format, we have yet to see even two which are uniformly cased.

The woodcuts were designed by Gosse and J. W. Whymper.

Freeman and Wertheimer describe three variants of the first 1848 edition and one separate 1862 edition.

My collection holds one of the first variant editions of this volume. The case is a dark purply-brown morocco, with blind ornamental frames on both boards.

 

 All were published by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.

 

 

Details to the back of the title page and on the rear end paper inform us that the printer was S. & J. Bentley, Wilson & Fley, Bangor House, Shoe Lane, London. 

A blind stamp on the front endpaper informs us that this book was sold by:

HAYWARD
BOOKSELLER
& STATIONER
BATH

The woodcuts are numerous and must have held those Victorian young people spellbound. The following is a selection.

© John Dunn.