Lot closes
July 10, 12:55 PM GMT
Estimate
4,000 - 5,000 GBP
Starting Bid
3,800 GBP
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Description
[George Edwards and Mark Catesby, after].
“Outlines of the Seven Volumes of Geo. Edwards’s History of Birds”. Circa 1778
An album of manuscript sketches and text after Edwards’s Natural History of Uncommon Birds and Gleanings; as well as Catesby’s Natural History of the Carolinas, 4to (254 x 184mm.), with 370 ink-over-pencil sketches in outline of birds and other animals after Edwards and Catesby, one or two sketches with ink washes, watercolour, and pastel, accompanied by ink manuscript notes taken from Edwards and Catesby, with “Some Brief Instructions for Etching or Engraving on Copper Plates with Aqua Fortis,” the catalogue of the names of the birds, the alphabetical index, extracts and sketches from Catesby’s Natural History of the Carolinas (1731), and a short entry about purchasing Edwards’s drawings at “Edsal’s sale”, c.700 pages, slightly later red half morocco gilt, spine lettered in gilt "Edwards's Birds | VIII | Mss. Sketches"
An unusual eighteenth-century ink manuscript album of ornithological sketches and specimen descriptions after Edwards and Catesby, following their works page-by-page.
This extensive, charming, and painstaking manuscript, titled by its anonymous creator Outlines of the Seven Volumes of Geo. Edwards’s History of Birds, is a remarkable eighteenth-century document of close scientific reading and learning. The work includes over 370 fine ink illustrations of all the birds and other animals included by Edwards across his seven volumes, together with the following text sections copied in ink manuscript: a synopsis of Edwards’s preface; “A Catalogue of the Names of the Birds” based on the printed version from 1776 with Latin names by Linnaeus; a 12-page “Some Brief Instructions for Etching or Engraving on Copper Plates with Aqua Fortis”; a one-page note on the dates of publication for Edwards’s first edition; two drawings captioned in pencil “The starfish I had from Yeats”; a section of “Extracts and Sketches from Catesby’s Natural History of Carolina &c.,” illustrated in pencil and ink wash; and a note recording: “Novr. 1778. Purchased the following drawings at Mr. Edsal’s sale drawn by Mr. Edwards: 1. A very uncommon Parrot from W. Indies”. It would appear the work’s creator was an amateur ornithologist or natural history illustrator, practicing their own craft by emulating two masters in Edwards and Catesby.
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