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BIRDS
CORNERSTONE
for an
AMERICAN
SPORTING
LIBRARY
(A “Bird” to Some is “Game” to Others). “Gentleman
of Philadelphia County, A” [i.e.,
Jesse Y. Kester]. The American shooter's manual, comprising
such plain and simple rules, as are necessary to introduce the inexperienced
into a full knowledge of all that relates to the dog, and the correct use of
a gun; also a description of the game of this country. Philadelphia: Carey,
Lea & Carey, 1827. 12mo (18.5 cm; 7.125"). [2] ff., pp. [ix]–248,
[1] p., [1 (errata)] f., [3 (ads)] ff.; frontis., 2 plts.
Click the images for enlargements. 
The plates are signed “F. Kearny,” an artist born in Perth Amboy, NJ, who studied drawing with Archibald and Alexander Robertson and engraving with Peter Maverick. From 1810 to his death in 1833 he practiced engraving in Philadelphia.
There are two states of gathering “U”: this copy has the typographical error “tibbon” with the stop-press correction to “ribbon” on p. 235.
The volume ends with advertisements for several sporting and fishing goods suppliers.
• Shoemaker 27838; Howes K108; Henderson, American Sporting Books,
6; Phillips, Sporting Books, 21; Streeter Sale 4084; Bennett, Practical
Guide, 60–61. On Stauffer, American Engravers, I, 148–49.
Publisher's sprinkled sheep with simple rope roll in blind on board
edges, some abrasion to leather; round spine with gilt double rules forming
“spine compartments,” black leather title label. The usual light
and scattered foxing noted in all copies, nothing more. A very nice copy. (28553)
Two
LARGE
Volumes — 106
Color
Plates
Eaton, Elon Howard. Birds of New York. Albany: University of the State of New York, 1910. Large 4to. 2 vols. I: 501 pp., 42 plts. II: 719 pp., 64 plts.
This publication is Memoir 12 of the New York State Museum. The plates are photomechanicals in full color.
Illustrated
Anecdotal Natural History
— Two Substantial
Volumes
Goodrich,
Samuel G. Illustrated natural history of the animal kingdom,
being a systematic and popular description of the habits, structure, and classification
of animals. New York: Derby & Jackson, 1859. 4to (25.7 cm, 10.1"). 2 vols.
I: Frontis., xvi, 680 pp.; 14 plates. II: Frontis., viii, 680 pp.; 14 plates.
Click the images for enlargements. 
1400
wood engravings, including 28 full-page. The first of the two
illustrated title-pages — a full double-page spread — is signed
“Lossing ... Barritt” [sic], for the wood-engravers Benson
John Lossing and William Barritt, whose New York firm Lossing joined in 1846.
Theirs was the largest wood-engraving business in New York until Lossing retired
in 1869. 
Peter
Parley, was a major 19th-century children's book author, and
editor of the illustrated annual The Token. He published this Illustrated
Natural History upon returning to America after a few years living in
Paris. 
• Sabin 27904. Full recent tan cloth with gilt leather
spine labels, clean and neat. Ex–social club library with old inked
stamps, including to title-pages, no other markings. Otherwise, save between
two pages where something once was laid in and in the index where a few leaves
show a little soiling, chipping, or tearing to margins and one displays an
old repair, only the odd small inkstain or short marginal tear and the gentlest
of age-toning. 
A remarkably clean and fresh set. (30144)
Anti-Lamarckian Natural Theology — Illustrated Kirby, William. On the power, wisdom and goodness of God, as manifested in the creation of animals, and in their history, habits and instincts. Philadelphia: Carey, Lea & Blanchard, 1836. 8vo (22.5 cm, 8.8"). lxxii, 519, [1], [4 (adv.)] pp.; 20 plts.
Click the images for enlargements. The volume is illustrated with20 copper-engraved plates by prominent Philadelphia engraver and publisher Joseph Yeager, including one dainty bird and a number of interesting sea creatures.
• American Imprints 38398; NSTC 2K6659. Period-style quarter light grey cloth and light blue paper–covered sides, spine with printed paper label. All edges sprinkled. One leaf creased. Offsetting from plates, among which the last is misnumbered; otherwise, clean. (30332)
The Secret Is in Their Eyes — Five Volumes as Here Bound — Hundreds of Engravings
Including the work of Fuseli & Blake
Lavater, John Caspar. Essays on physiognomy, designed to promote the knowledge and the love of mankind ... illustrated by more than eight hundred engravings accurately copied; and some duplicates added from originals. London: Printed for John Murray, No. 32, Fleet-Street; H. Hunter, D.D. Charles's-Square; and T. Holloway, No. 11, Bache's-Row, Hoxton, 1789–98. 4to in 2's (34.1 cm, 13.4"). 3 vols. in 5. I: [11] ff., iv, [10], 281 pp. (i.e., 285); 15 plates. II, part 1: xii, 238 pp.; 45 plates. II, part 2: [3] ff., pp. [239]–444; 47 plates. III, pt. 1: xii, 252 pp.; 25 plates. III, pt. 2: [3] ff., pp. 253-437 (i.e., 181 pp.), [9] pp.; 42 plates.
Click the images for enlargements. 
Lavater's study of character based on physical attributes. Originally published in German (Physiognomische Fragmente, 1775–78), these influential Essays were translated into English by Henry Hunter (1741–1802) from the subsequent French edition (La Haye, 1781-87), and published in 41 parts under the direction of Royal Academy artists Henry Fuseli (1741–1825) and Thomas Holloway (1748–1827), who both contributed illustrations. In fact, Lavater (1741–1801), a Swiss priest and poet, had no part in the new publication; Hunter arranged the endeavor with Holloway and publisher John Murray without the consent of the author, who learned of the project after it had gone to press, and objected, fearing a new edition would subtract from sales of the old.
over 360 engraved illustrations in the text and 132 full-page engraved plates, many of which Holloway copied directly from the French edition; it's the multiple images on the full-page plates that produce the proud claim of “more than 800 engravings” on the title-page. They include
portraits of famous wrinkled writers, philosophers, musicians, monarchs, statesmen, and Lavater himself; silhouettes of Jesus and portraits of Mary; details of male, female, and animal/BIRD attributes; and skulls, hairlines, eyes, noses, and mouths, among other features, engraved by Holloway, Fuseli, William Blake (1757–1827), James Neagle (1765–1822), Anker Smith (1759–1819), James Caldwall (1739–ca. 1819), Isaac Taylor (1730–1807), and William Sharp (1749–1824), inter alios, after works of art by Rubens, Van Dyke, Raphael, Fuseli, LeBrun, Daniel Chodowiecki (1726–1801). The commentary on these images makes this a work of
art history/criticism, as Lavater is both free and detailed in his notes of how various artists handle details of physiognomy and body language to express character and engender beauty.
• Wellcome, III, 458; Garrison-Morton 154; ESTC T139902; Lowndes II, p.1321 (“a sumptuous edition”); Osler, Bib. Osleriana, p. 283, no. 3178; Bentley Blake Books 481; Ryskamp, William Blake, Engraver, 22. On the parts, see: Arents Collection of Books in Parts, p. 74. Contemporary calf ruled and tooled in gilt and blind with gilt board edges and gilt turn-ins, rebacked old style; marbled edges, and blue silk marker in all volumes. Extremities rubbed and corners bumped with small loss to leather. At least one small marginal tear in each volume; offsetting from letterpress on a few leaves; very mild to quite moderate foxing (or none) on illustrations, offset onto surrounding leaves; and other occasional minor stains. Most plates protected by tissue. A monument of labor, art, and excellent “system” devoted to an exploded but fascinating theory; in fact, a wonder. (30974)
Lovely Christian Gift Book — BEAUTIFUL Hand Coloring Newell, Daniel. The Christian family annual. Vol. 3. New York: Daniel Newell, [1845]. 8vo (22.6 cm, 8.9"). Engr. t.-p., [4], [9]–432 pp.; 11 col. plts., 13 plts.
Click the images for enlargements. 24 steel-engraved plates, including 11 hand-colored images of flowers and birds.
Mid-19th-Century Music forthe Young Russell, Benjamin A., & Charles Walton Sanders. The robin red breast; a new juvenile singing book. New York: Ivison & Phinney; Chicago: S.C. Griggs & Co.; Buffalo: Phinney & Co.; et al., 1855. Oblong 8vo. 199, [1] pp.
Click the image for enlargement. This is the second edition, following the (scarce) first of 1852; the front cover differs from the title-page in giving the publication information as Chicago.
Provenance: Front pastedown with several early pencilled inscriptions, including one reading “To Vestilla from W.B. Lear, July 13th 1857.” A folded section from a smaller hymnal is laid in.
• Publisher's quarter sheep and printed paper–covered boards; binding darkened and rubbed, front joint starting from head, front cover creased. Front free endpaper partially excised and back free endpaper lacking; front pastedown with inscriptions as above, back pastedown with early inked annotations and numerals. First three leaves with central tear affecting several words. Laid-in hymnal pages with upper edges chewed. Moderate foxing and intermittent waterstaining; some corners dog-eared.Interesting for its graphically appealing cover and the array of its “juvenile” repertoire choices. (30255)
“With Sorrow Did Jane Go, To Her Uncheering Home”The tragi-comic history of the burial of Cock Robin; with the lamentation of Jenny Wren; the Sparrow's apprehension; and the Cuckoo's punishment.... Philadelphia: Benjamin Johnson (J. Probasco, pr.), 1821. Square 12mo. 16 pp., 8 plts.
Click the images for enlargements. 
FromWolves to Butterflies — One of the Great Western Surveys
Wheeler, George M. Report upon geographical and geological explorations and surveys west of the one hundredth meridian ... vol. V — zoology. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1875. Folio (30.5 cm, 12"). Vol. V (only). 22, [4], 23–1021, [1] pp.; 29 col. plts., 16 plts.
Click the images for enlargements. fish, insects, birds, and a wide range of mammals large and small. 
45 engraved plates done by Thomas Sinclair & Son, including 29 chromolithographic plates; the bird images were “drawn from nature by Mr. Robert Ridgway, of the Smithsonian Institution” (p. 11), and are printed here (along with several of the snake, butterfly, and insect plates) in strikingly well-accomplished color printing. The notes on birds make especially interesting reading, discussing bird calls, the birds' behavior prior to extended exposure to humanity, and comparisons between western and eastern American birds of similar types.
Provenance: Front pastedown with bookplate of private collector the Rev. Edwin A. Dalrymple, a Baltimore collector, mid–19th century; his collection given to the Maryland Diocesan Library; that library sold in 2006.
• Not in Graff, Howes, or Sabin. Marston, Supplement to Bibliotheca Piscatoria, 243. Vol. V only (complete as a stand-alone text). Publisher's textured brown cloth, spine with gilt-stamped title and U.S. seal with “Essayons” motto of the Corps of Engineers, rebacked with brown cloth preserving almost all of original spine; edges and extremities rubbed. Front pastedown with bookplate as above and with institutional rubber-stamp. One leaf with tear from outer margin, not touching text; pages slightly and evenly age-toned, quite clean; plates crisp and clean and lovely. A significant account of the American West, with gorgeous color images. (31178)
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