Sowerby, James | British Mineralogy, the first comprehensive illustrated work on mineralogy

Sowerby, James

British Mineralogy, or, Colored Figures Intended to Elucidate the Mineralogy of Great Britain. London: R. Taylor and Co., 1804, 1806, 1809, 1811, Arding and Merrett, 1817 (some plates dated 1802)

5 volumes, 8vo (226 x 136 mm). 504 (of 550) hand-colored copper-plate engravings, dated and numbered in order with plates 66, 238, 394, and 421 misnumbered and corrected in pencil; some offsetting and spotting of plates, instances of paper residue to plate 425, plate 494 backed, p. 54 in volume 5 abraded leading to loss of some words, manuscript captions to margins of a few plates trimmed, volume 5 only containing plates 400 to 504 and text leaves up to p. 194. Uniformly bound in later ¾ morocco over cloth covered boards, spine in 6 compartments, second and fourth gilt lettered, others with repeat decoration in gilt; discoloration to cloth.

The first comprehensive illustrated work on mineralogy. 

British Mineralogy paired fine illustrations with detailed descriptions of the minerals of Great Britain. While originally issued in 78 parts over 15 years, subscribers often bound Sowerby’s parts into volumes containing around 100 plates each, like the present lot. Sowerby’s triumph was “the largest number of plates and some of the finest examples of hand-colored mineral illustration ever produced” (Schuh).

REFERENCES

Schuh 4475