THE MISCELLANY OF NATURAL HISTORY

VOLUME I - PARROTS

by CAPTAIN THOMAS BROWN with a Biography of Audubon

by SIR THOMAS DICK LAUDER, BART.

and the Engravings by JOSEPH B. KIDD

Published by Fraser & Co., Edinburgh 1833

This is a very remarkable little book entitled “The Miscellany of Natural History” with a Biography of Audubon written by Sir Thomas Dick Lauder, Bart. and the text by Captain Thomas Brown. This is the first volume of the series and is on Parrots, published in Edinburgh by Fraser & Co. in 1833. The engravings are all by Joseph B. Kidd with the Frontispiece of Audubon in his hunting dress by Charles Wands after the painting by John Syme. This is supposedly the first engraving published from this painting which is very well done with the facsimile signature. The book is absolutely fascinating as the introduction and preface give a bit of interesting history of Audubon and his relationship with Kidd, who actually instructed Audubon in the technique of oil painting. There are 34 hand-colored plates of various parrots which are probably pointless to list as they have been given very archaic Latin Names as well as just general common names. There are three Cockatoos, several Lories and Macaws, and the rest varieties of Parrakeet, including Pennants, Cape, Molucca, and then simple names such as Violet-blue, Black-backed, etc. This first plate is of the Carolina Parrot or Parrakeet which has been taken from the illustration by Wilson for his “American Ornithology”. It is interesting to note, that this is the same publisher, along with Kidd as engraver and Brown as writer, that issued a folio edition of Wilson in 1831-1835. I also find it interesting that this little book came out in direct competition with the Jardine series of the “Naturalist’s Library”. The volume itself is in the original cloth-covered boards with a very faded spine, although the gilt title is still fine. There are a few rips along the edges of the spine and the boards are bumped, stained, with some tears etc. The endpapers are soiled with the titles browned and foxed. All titles are present with the half, vignette, and full titles. The initial advert page in the front is fine so any foxing ends there. There are 170 pages of text, prelims, etc. the last few of which are uncut as are the 24 pages of adverts at the end. The colors are extremely fresh and bright. In fact, of the three volumes of these I have purchased over the years, the hand-colored plates contained here are far and away the best. There are almost 20 pages on the Carolina parrot which might be taken from another book, while most of the others have a page or two of description. It is sized 7 x 4 1/2 inches. All tissue guards are present for the plates and a few of these have pencil tracings made on them by a juvenile hand. The plates are all in fine shape. The plates have that Edwards or Pennant kind of look, so it is possible that Kidd used some other models for his inspiration. This is quite a rare volume and is not found in many of the fine ornithological libraries and collections in the US and is not listed in the Library of Congress. All in all, quite an interesting book with brightly colored plates. I believe this book to be historically important mainly due to the image of Audubon and discussions about his relationship with Kidd. This was published at the time of Kidd’s close relationship with Audubon in attempting to create a “Natural History Gallery of Paintings”. This was an attempt by Kidd to translate Audubon’s drawings into oil paintings which would then be used as a traveling exhibition to solicit subscriptions to Audubon’s Birds of America!! Unfortunately, the two had a falling out a few years after, partially due to the unauthorized use of Audubon’s portrait, and the project was unfinished. It should be noted that many booksellers have thought this was a book by Audubon due to the frontispiece of him and the biography contained in the first portion of the book. A plethora of digital images follows....

Price:  $750.00