VIEILLOT, Louis Jean Pierre (1748-1830).
Histoire naturelle des oiseaux de l'Amérique Septentrionale, contenant un grand nombre d'espèces décrites ou figures pour la première fois.
Paris: Desray, 1807[-1808].

Comparable: Sotheby's, 2019 - $30,000; Sotheby's, 2022 - $18,900.

2 volumes, folio (21 5/8 x 13 1/2 in.; 54.9 x 34.3 cm). 131 engraved plates after J. G. Prêtre (including the 7 bis plates) by L. Bouquet, printed in color by Langlois and finished by hand, half-titles, half titles, extra-illustrated with a double-page engraved map by Herisson of L'Amérique Septentrionale handcolored in outline (plate number 42 from an Atlas Universel), as usual; some faint marginal spotting to plates in vol. 2. Contemporary red morocco, covers with border of gilt fillets and a dog-tooth roll, the spines in six compartments with double-raised bands, the bands highlighted with gilt tooling and the space between each pair of bands with a narrow onlay of black morocco, lettered in gilt on labels in the second and third compartments, gilt turn-ins, marbled endpapers; minor soiling, one or two instances of staining.

FIRST EDITION OF THIS CLASSIC OF AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY.

The present work contains descriptions of many North American birds, some of which predate those of Alexander Wilson. Viellot, along with Wilson, was a pioneer in a new kind of ornithology in which birds were no longer assessed as specimens and skins but studied as living organisms within their environment. "Louis Jean Pierre Viellot was one of the more discerning ornithologists who gave particular study to female, immature and seasonal plumage" (Allen). The work was originally planned to comprise 40 livraisons, each with six plates; however, only 22 livraisons appeared, before it ceased publication, possibly in 1808.

REFERENCES: Allen 549-552; Anker 515; Nissen IVB 957; Fine Bird Books, pp. 149-141; Wood p 612; Zimmer pp. 654-655.

PROVENANCE: Samuel Jones-Loyd, 1st Baron Overstone (armorial bookplate on front pastedowns); Robert James Lindsay, Baron Wantage of Lockinge, VC, KCB, FRS (white morocco gilt label on front pastedowns).

Seller Inventory # 65ERM0211