Thomas Pennant | The British zoology. London, [1761]-1766, fine coloured plates - photo 1
Thomas Pennant | The British zoology. London, [1761]-1766, fine coloured plates - photo 2
Thomas Pennant | The British zoology. London, [1761]-1766, fine coloured plates - photo 3
Thomas Pennant | The British zoology. London, [1761]-1766, fine coloured plates - photo 4
Thomas Pennant | The British zoology. London, [1761]-1766, fine coloured plates - photo 5
Thomas Pennant | The British zoology. London, [1761]-1766, fine coloured plates - photo 6

Thomas Pennant | The British zoology. London, [1761]-1766, fine coloured plates

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£ 16 510
Auction dateClassic
28.11.2023 14:00UTC +01:00
Auctioneer
Sotheby´s
Event location
United Kingdom, London
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ID 1076587
Lot 64 | Thomas Pennant | The British zoology. London, [1761]-1766, fine coloured plates
Thomas Pennant

The British zoology. London: J. and J. March for The Cymmrodorion Society, [1761]-1766

FIRST EDITION, folio (565 x 385mm.), title and dedication printed in red and black, 132 hand-coloured plates engraved by Peter Mazell after Barlow, Peter Brown, Charles Collins, F. A. Desmoulins, George Edwards, G. Haulner and Peter Paillou, and coloured by Paillou, later dark blue morocco, elaborately gilt, edges untrimmed, light to moderate offsetting from plates, occasional light marginal thumbing or soiling

The first edition of this ambitious attempt to capture all known British birds and quadrupeds in one work, complete with the supplementary twenty-five plates. Thomas Pennant was a preeminent eighteenth-century polymath: he was an authority on birds, animals, plants, geology, antiquities and marine life, and corresponded with the Comte de Buffon, Voltaire, Haller and Pallas. He commenced his British Zoology in 1761, following the continental trend of recording and illustrating one’s native species. The publication of the work led to him being elected a fellow of the Royal Society, and although the enormous cost of producing the rich colour plates meant he made little profit from the project, the money it did generate he donated to the British charity school at Clerkenwell Green.

"The first coloured illustrations of birds in a book which attempted to list and portray all of the British species, many of them life-size... Peter Paillou contributed most of the designs and coloured the prints, the colour being extended to the trees, branches and foregrounds... they showed what could be done in the production of good, large pictures of British birds. Much of the credit must go to Mazell, the meticulous and tidy etcher, for his fidelity to Paillou's drawings" (Jackson).

Previously present bookplates were lost when this volume was rebound, but we know from its sale at Christie’s in 2006 (for the equivalent of approximately $33,500) that it comes from the library of Hugh Cecil Lowther, 5th Earl of Lonsdale (1857-1944), a sportsman, car enthusiast, and one of the richest men in the England of his day. (Lhi21032)
Auction house category:Prints, graphics, books
Address of auction Sotheby´s
34-35 New Bond Street
W1A 2AA London
United Kingdom
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28.11.2023
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