DOUGHTY, J[ohn] and T[homas] Doughty (19th Century).
The Cabinet of Natural History, and American Rural Sports with Illustrations.
Philadelphia: J. & T. Doughty, 1830-33. First Edition.

Comparables: Sotheby's, 2001 - $6,600; Laird Park, 2000 - $6,000.

THE BRADLEY MARTIN COPY OF THE FIRST AMERICAN COLORED-LITHOGRAPH BOOK.

Three volumes in two (I+II, III). Folio (10 7/8" x 8 7/8"). [Full collation available.] With 2 engraved portrait frontispieces, 3 engraved title-pages, 1 engraved pictorial plate and 54 lithographed plates (lacking vol. II pl. 7), of which 51 are colored. Vol. 1 (I & II) bound together in XIXc sprinkled calf (rebacked, with the original backstrip laid down). On the boards, a double gilt fillet border surrounding a gilt acanthus border. On the spine, four raised bands with gilt rolls. Panels gilt. Title gilt to third panel. At the tail, "GEORGE K. TRYON" gilt. Gilt roll to the edges of the boards. Marble end-papers. Vol. 2 (III) bound in drab boards, rebacked in cloth with the original cloth backstrip laid down. On the spine, a paper label. Restored in 2020 by Judith Ivry. Both volumes rebacked, with the original backstrip laid down. Vol. 1 heavily tanned and foxed in places, with some marginal tears and repairs. Lacking vol. II pl. 7, but otherwise the plates are well-colored and have their original tissue-guards. An effaced bookplate and the bookplate of E. Bradley Martin on the front paste-down. Vol. 2 worn at the fore-corners, with some spotting and scuffing to the boards. Far brighter than its companion (the paper-quality is superior), though still with some foxing. Some marginal tears and repairs. Bookplate of E. Bradley Martin on the front paste-down.

Country pursuits have long been the traditional occupation of a gentleman. In some regards, this is universal: hunting, cultivation, games and so forth. What the American sportsman adds, especially in the early XIXc, is the sense of exploration and wildness that comes from the vast expanse of the continent. The Doughtys -- Thomas (1793-1856) was the father of the Hudson River School, though a Philadelphian -- gathered anything having to do with the great outdoors, from glossaries to botanical and ornithological publications, to cultivation guides and home- and land-owner's tips, right through to tales of hunting and fishing. Initially issued monthly, the popularity of the venture (and doubtless old sheets as well) led to this issue in book form. Bennett calls volume III "perhaps the most difficult of all American sport item to find." The work is distinguished as the first major publication in America illustrated with hand-colored lithographic plates. For the next thirty years, this was the prime means of disseminating color images in America; although chromolithography would be developed a few years after the present work, it would not be used widely till after the Civil War. The name at the tail of vol. I, George K. Tryon, refers perhaps to the watchcase manufacturer of 618 Chestnut Street in Philadelphia (per McElroy's Philadelphia City Directory of 1867). H. Bradley Martin's library was disbursed over nine sales at Sotheby's New York in 1989 (the present item was 12 December, lot 1450). An heir to the Phipps steel fortune, Martin was also one of the most active and involved collectors of the twentieth century.

Bennett p. 35, Henderson p. 37, Howes D433, Reese American Color Plate Books 12. Seller Inventory # 6JLR0132