[BAKER, Charles (1803-1874)]

Lot 191
12.07.2023 00:00UTC +00:00
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£ 1 260
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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ID 993201
Lot 191 | [BAKER, Charles (1803-1874)]
Estimate value
£ 1 000 – 1 500
[BAKER, Charles (1803-1874)]

British Butterflies, their distinctions, generic and specific; with lithographic illustrations ... drawn by the children of the Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, Edgbaston. Birmingham: by Thomas Knott, 1828.

First and only edition of this very rare publication. The author of this work was Charles Baker, a teacher of deaf people, and a headmaster in Doncaster for forty-five years. Baker was born in Birmingham and as a young man was for a few years an assistant at the Deaf and Dumb Institution at Edgbaston, near Birmingham, a pioneering provincial school for deaf children: 'during this time he directed the minds of the elder pupils to the various objects of natural history which came before them during their leisure hours. Entomology became a favourite pursuit; and in 1828 he became the author of a small volume which he describes as 'British Butterflies: their distinctions, generic and specific, with lithographic illustrations of each genus, comprising 33 species, drawn by the children of the Institution for the Deaf and Dumb at Edgbaston.' Many years after, Sir Joseph Paxton applied for a copy to notice in the Horticultural Register' (Biographical sketch of the late Charles Baker, PH.D., American Annals Of The Deaf And Dumb, Edited By Edward A. Fay, Vol XX, no. 4, October 1875).



12mo (138 x 82mm). 18 lithographic plates, some with contemporary hand-colour (some gatherings becoming loose). Original orange cloth, flat spine, upper cover with printed green label (extremities slightly rubbed, some stains to binding). Provenance: Dominican Priory, Woodchester, Gloucestershire ('FF[ratrum] Praed[icatorum] de Woodchester'; bookplate).





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