DRESSER, Henry Eeles (1838-1915)
10.12.2025 12:00UTC +00:00
Classic
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CHRISTIE'S| Auctioneer | CHRISTIE'S |
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| Lieu de l'événement | Royaume-Uni, London |
| Commission | see on Website% |
ID 1514376
Lot 94 | DRESSER, Henry Eeles (1838-1915)
Valeur estimée
7000GBP £ 7 000 – 10 000
A History of the Birds of Europe, including all the species inhabiting the Western Palaearctic Region. London: Taylor and Francis for the author, 1871-1896.
An extremely handsome set of the first edition, based by the author on his collection of 12,000 bird skins. Originally published in 84 parts between 1871 and 1882, a further 9 supplementary parts appeared between 1895 and 1896, which are complete in this set. At the outset, Dresser collaborated on The History of the Birds of Europe with noted ornithologist Richard Bowdler Sharpe, and the first few parts were issued in their joint name. On Sharpe’s appointment to the British Museum (Natural History), where he ultimately became the curator of the bird collection, Dresser took on the task of completing the work himself. Dresser was elected as a member to the British Ornithologists’ Union in 1865, and served as the secretary of the Union from 1882-1888. He authored over 100 scientific papers on birds, many of which described new species and illustrated the eggs of many species of birds for the first time. Anker 120; Fine Bird Books (1990) p.72; Nissen IVB 267; Zimmer p.177.
9 volumes including index (volume I) and supplement (volume IX), large quarto (324 x 252mm). 8 lithographic titles (of 9, without lithographic title to vol. IX), 722 lithographic plates (collating as per the usual bibliographies but without plate 599a found in some copies), all but two, pl. 263 and pl. 485, hand-coloured, extra-illustrated with a manuscript sketch map of Europe tipped in at the beginning of vol. II and with 3 additional plates, viz 253a Siberian Jay Perisoreus infaustus in vol. I being an example of a hand-coloured ‘rejected’ plate, 302a Barn Owl Strix flammea in vol. V from Rowley’s Ornithological Miscellany hand-coloured with superior detailing of feathers, and 509a Little Bustard Otis tetrax in vol. VII which is an uncoloured duplicate ‘inferior plate,’ plate 120 in vol. II with printed overslip correcting caption, plates in supplement with printed numbers, the others unnumbered but with pencil numeration throughout on blank rectoes, and text similarly paginated (chip and small marginal repair to fore-edge of text leaf pp.13-14 in vol. II, a couple of tiny insignificant marginal nicks and tear, occasional faint insignificant spotting but otherwise, a clean fresh set). Early 20th-century red half roan over marbled-paper covered boards, spines with raised bands in 6 compartments, extensively lettered in gilt listing species contained in each volume, top edges gilt, the others uncut, vol. I preserving original blue paper wrappers to parts (extremities lightly rubbed, joints more heavily). Provenance: Lord Garioch, Earl of Mar (bookplates dated 1913).
| Lieu d'origine: | Angleterre, Europe du Nord, Europe, Royaume-Uni |
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| Catégorie maison de vente aux enchères: | Livres et manuscrits, Livres imprimés |
| Lieu d'origine: | Angleterre, Europe du Nord, Europe, Royaume-Uni |
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| Catégorie maison de vente aux enchères: | Livres et manuscrits, Livres imprimés |
| Adresse de l'enchère |
CHRISTIE'S 8 King Street, St. James's SW1Y 6QT London Royaume-Uni | |
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