Natural History & Early Female Ownership. [Willoughby] W...

Hammer

£480

Natural History & Early Female Ownership. [Willoughby] Willughby (Francis, FRS) & Ray (John, FRS), The Ornithology of [...], In Three Books. Wherein All the birds Hitherto Known [...], To which are added, Three Considerable Discourses [...], first English edition, London: Printed by A.C. for John Martyn, Printer to the Royal Society, at the Bell in St. Pauls Church-Yard, 1678, black-ruled title-page printed in red and black, woodcut initials, [xii], 441, [4]pp (index), signatures collating: A⁴ a² B-Z⁴ ³A-Z⁴ ³A-K⁴ ³L³, 79 engraved plates only (lacking no. 42), some in-text diagrams, 2 letterpress tables, lacking the final index leaf (i.e. ³L4) otherwise textually complete, ³S-T⁴ stained but legible, ³F4 crudely repaired with minor loss to letters but not sense, ³L3 similar, a handful of plates repaired, the most drastic being no. 1, otherwise a good, respectable copy, some minor stable chips, repairs, slight staining and markings, yet principally marginal, contemporary speckled calf, worn with chipped losses, split joints holding, lacking most of ffep, folio (37 x 24cm), [Zimmer pp.677-678; Wing W2880]

Provenance: Elizabeth Hill, contemporary ink MS ownership inscription to fragmentary ffep.