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"The Birds of Great Britain, systematically arranged, accurately engraved, and painted from nature; with descriptions including the natural history of each bird...the figures engraved from the subjects themselves by the author. Les Oiseaux de la Grande Bretagne, rangés dans un ordre systématique...."
" London, printed for J. Johnson, In Saint-Paul's Churchyard, 1800 - 1801 (in reality 1795 - ca. 1812). in-4°, (28,5 x 22,7 cm), complete in eight volumes bound in four.. The book contains 336 handcoloured plates (of which 278 full page , of birds ; and 58 of eggs. The commentary is in English and in French. Each volume with a double title page (English & French). Binding. Uniformly bound in full brown Russian leather with a fine cross-hatched (diamond) grain. All the covers with a large gilt floral frame (2 cm width) within triple straight gilt fillets.finely decorated spines with gilt title. Marbled edges, marbled endpapers . With printed armorial bookplate of Saxton Hall (?). Very nicely preserved contemporary binding, with minimal traces of use or scratches. The interior is also well preserved. A bit age-toned at some pages, but no offsetting or staining worth mentioning. Only the blank first leaves of volume one show some browning or foxing. The corner of plate 57 in volume II is frayed with some loss of paper. Some minor dampstaining at the first leaves of volume V. In all an excellently preserved copy. This book is the second edition (printed in an estimated 160 copies). The first edition which started to appear in 1789 and consisted of 66 copies was illustrated with original watercolours (drawn and coloured entirely by hand). When the father died in 1795 his sons decided on a second edition with printed handcoloured plates. The father had already begun to etch more detailed plates for a second edition. He had arrived at 103 plates when he died. Lewin was considered to be the best zoological painter and one of the most practical naturalists of his day (Swanson). He has been described as the Dr. Johnson of British ornithology. .Anker 306 ; Fine Bird Books (1990) pp. 119 ; Nissen IVB 562. Wood p. 435. Zimmer p.395."
