JARDINE, SIR WILLIAM

The Naturalist's Library. Edinburgh: W. H. Lizars, 1843. 40 Volumes. Early-twentieth-century red calf over spines and corners, spines gilt lettered and ornamented, red cloth boards, top edges gilt, signed by Bayntun on the endpapers. 6 1/2 x 4 inches (16.5 x 10 cm); Volumes 1-13 on mammals, 14-27 on birds, 28-33 on fish, and 34-40 on insects; with engraved portrait frontispieces, engraved additional titles pages, and engraved plates, mostly hand-colored, tissue guards. Light rubbing and wear mostly to extremities, spines a bit dulled, toning and spotting to endpapers and fore-edges, occasional pale spots to contents, a small chip at the headcap of volume I, bookplate of Pebble Hill Plantation in all volumes, the text and plates have not been collated, thus offered as is.

A finely bound set of Jardine's Naturalist's Library, a profusely-illustrated Victorian educational work that extensively describes animals of all types. It also provides short biographies, as well as portraits, of important zoologists. The work is split into four sections, one for each classification - mammals, birds, fish, and insects. The charming red calf bindings by Bayntun of Bath feature different gilt-stamped ornaments of animals in each class, such as a horse, a hare, and a hound for the volumes about mammals, adding a nice touch to the binding of the set.

McGill/Wood, p. 405.; Ayer/Zimmer, p. 325; Nissen VBI 471.