The Ornithology of Francis Willughby of Middleton : in the Country of Warwick Esq; Fellow of the Royal Society. In Three Books. Wherein All the Birds Hitherto Known, Being reduced into a Method Suitable to their Nature are Accurately Described.
Buckinghamshire: Paul P.B. Minet, 1972. The Descriptions Illustrated by Most Elegant Figures, nearly resembling the Live Birds Engraven in LXXVIII Copper Plates. Limited Facsimile Edition. Green cloth stamped in gilt, housed in plain black slipcase. Folio. 441, [6, Index], [78 plates]. 14.75" x 9.5" Fine in very good original slipcase. Item #227635
Translated Into English, and Enlarged With Many Additions Throughout the Whole Work To Which Are Added Three Considerable Discourses, I. Of the Art of Fowling: With a Description of Several Nets in two large Copper Plates. II. Of the Ordering of Singing Birds. III. Of Falconry.
Francis Willughby (1635-1672) left behind a significant amount of research and material in the field of ornithology when his soul took flight, leaving behind the unpublished body of his short life's work. He was the first to scientifically classify birds, the same system used by Linnaeus 100 years later, and his various contributions as a naturalist in the seventeenth century are foundational. Working together, Willughby and John Ray, his Trinity College classmate, also pursued the study of insects and fish, works eventually edited and published posthumously by Ray. Attribution of authorship became blurred with the passage of time, with Willughby's contributions nearly completely eclipsed by the recognition Ray received in his lifetime. This work was originally published in Latin in 1676 and translated into English in 1678, and faithfully reproduced here in facsimile from the copy belonging to the Birmingham City Libraries.
Limited to 400 copies, of which this is 36.
Price: $350.00