Beschreibung:

Meyer (Henry Leonard). Coloured Illustrations of British Birds, and their Eggs, 7 volumes, mixed editions, London: G. W. Nickisson [George Willis ... Simpkin, Marshall & Co. ... Willis and Sotheran], 1842-57, 427 hand-coloured lithographic plates (of which 322 of birds, 105 of eggs), 8 uncoloured lithographic plates, errata leaf, tissue-guards, occasional spotting, etched bookplates of H. G. Stephenson to volumes 2 and 4-6 and earlier bookplate of John Cleminson to volume 7, top edges gilt, volumes 1-2 and 4-7 in contemporary green half morocco with gilt spines incorporating avian motifs, volume 3 in modern green half morocco to match, spines sunned (volume 3 spine deliberately coloured thus), rubbed, 8vo (21.7 x 13.5 cm) (Qty: 7) THE DAVID WILSON LIBRARY OF NATURAL HISTORY PART II Fine Bird Books p. 123; Freeman 2563; Mullens & Swann pp. 403-4; Nissen IVB 628; Wood p. 462; Zimmer p. 433 (a mixed set). The first octavo edition of Meyer's Illustrations of British Birds (1835-41) was first published in 1842-50, and another edition appeared in 1853-7. The imprints of this mixed set are: volume I, G. W. Nickisson, 1842; II, George Willis 1853); III Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., 1846; IV, G. Willis, 1855; V, G. Willis, 1855; VI, Willis & Sotheran, no date; VII, Willis & Sotheran, 1857. According to Wood, the 1853-7 edition has one extra egg plate, but lacks the two uncoloured bird plates found in the second volume of the 1842-50 edition. Such changes make it difficult and perhaps undesirable to ascertain an ideal collation for a mixed set, and there is disagreement even on the collation of unmixed sets. Our set appears nevertheless to contain the maximal number of plates available. For the 1842-50 edition Nissen cites 432 plates of which 102 are of eggs, all being coloured, and 435 plates for the 1853-7 edition, including 105 eggs and 8 uncoloured plates. Wood cites a total of 432 plates for the 1842-50 edition, comprising 330 birds and 102 eggs, while noting that this differs from the Mullens and Swann collation of '432 plates, mostly coloured (322 of birds and 110 of eggs)'; his collation for the 1853-7 edition, by contrast, cites 431 plates, of which 328 are birds and 103 are eggs.