Bonaparte

1808 · 32275 — Philadelphia: The Wilson volumes published by Bradford and Inskeep. Printed by Robert Carr; R. & W. Carr; VII-IX by Samuel F. Bradford printed by Thomas H. Palmer; the Bonaparte volumes published by Samuel Augustus Mitchell Vol.I Carey Lea Carey Vols. II and III and Carey & Lea Vol. IV all Printed by William Brown 1808-1812; 1824-1825; 1825-1833. 13 volumes. First Edition of this rare textual and illustrated work that is considered to be the First Outstanding American Ornithology and the First Great American Colour- Plate Book. Volumes I-VI are first issue Volumes VII VIII and IX reissued with the alterations and corrections by Ord made after further ornithological information had been gleaned and First Edition of the Bonaparte volumes with the first volume in rare first state. The nine Wilson volumes beautifully illustrated with 76 superb hand-coloured engraved folio plates by Alexander Lawson J.G. Warnicke G. Murray and Benjamin Tanner from original drawings by Wilson depicting a vast array of American birds. The Bonaparte volumes are illustrated with 27 additional richly hand-coloured folio plates from drawings by Titian Ramsay Peale A. Rider and plate 10 by Audubon and A. Rider Folio 36 x 27 cm. and Folio 38 x 29 & 39 x 32 cm. The Wilson volumes in contemporary mottled calf over marbled paper covered boards the spines gilt decorated within compartments separated by fine gilt tooling two compartments lettered and numbered in gilt some volumes restored at the backs to style and in effort to match the original spine panels though the tooling is slightly different considering the unavailability of the original tools. The four Bonaparte volumes in fine period red morocco over marbled paper covered boards. The spines fully decorated in gilt. vi 158; xii 167; xvi 120; xii 100; xii 122; xx 100; xii 138; xi 162; ccxxiii i 298 4 General Index pp. Complete viii 105; x 95; iv 60; iv 142 pp. Quite a handsome set in pleasing condition the usual spotting in places usually from offsetting from the plates a few expert repairs to old closed tears in the text the plates all quite well preserved with much less spotting or browning than is usually found. One volume with a bit of evidence of old damp at the edges of the prelims. Vol. VI with a bit more spotting or foxing than the others as is usual due to the paper this confined to some of the textual pages An excellent set. The Bonaparte volumes in very handsome bindings as well some of the usual offsetting and browning throughout the volumes as is typical with the paper used. Generally in all volumes the plates are quite clean and the spotting is confined to the text and tissues. The paper used for the text in these sets was prone to foxing and offsetting spotting and splotching but fortunately the paper used for the plates was of a better quality and so as in the copies being offered here the plates are generally quite clean with some minor spotting on occasion and then usually confined to the outer margins. The bindings on the Bonaparte volumes are in original state and offer a very handsome and especially appealing presence. FIRST EDITION OF TWO OF THE MOST IMPORTANT BOOKS IN THE HISTORY OF AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY AND COLOUR-PLATE PRINTING INCLUDING THE FIRST GREAT WORK ON AMERICAN BIRDS. “The story of Alexander Wilson's spasmodic rise from Scottish peddler and failed poet to the father of Amrican ornithology is a cloyingly American story. Numerous "types" those we recognize from the writings of Benjamin Franklin through the literature of James Fenimore Cooper to the Jacksonian businessman emerge in his journey. It is a journey that takes him from the small town of Paisley in West Scotland to the shores of Delaware where he lands a penniless immigrant over vast tracks of the eastern United States and finally to Philadelphia; here like Franklin he finds renowned associates from Charles Wilson Peale to Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Paine and the international recognition that he had craved since his first poetic jottings as a youth in Scotland. The tragic irony of this American story is its truncation; indeed it is Alexander Wilson's exhaustingly extreme dedication to his ornithological studies and the illnesses contracted during his Leatherstocking-esque roamins through the forests that kill him at the age of forty-seven just as he attains the station in life he so desires. An immigrant who embraced so fully the "American Dream" of constant industry leading to financial and personal reward Wilson achieved his dream but scarcely lived to enjoy it. Perhaps though Wilson did achieve what he truly desired; in 1805 frustrated by attempts to gain help in publishing his ornithology he swore to continue on his own even if it killed him: "I shall at least leave a small beacon to point out where I perished." Ord p. 61. This declaration transcends Americanness; Wilson seemed to fear that in the vast cauldron of humanity he would be subsumed. His Ornithology then which has earned him title of the father of American ornithology seems the work of a talented and driven man whose desires in life were met too well by the American attitudes and mores of the early nineteenth century.†The book is of considerable importance. Vols. VII-IX revised by George Ord were reissued in 1824-1825<br> The Bonaparte volumes were designed as a supplement to Wilson's American Ornithology. Originally intended to be issued inn 3 vols. 1825-1828 it is now considered imperfect without the final 4th volume 1833. Born in 1803 Charles Lucien Jules Laurent Bonaparte 2nd Prince of Canino and Musignano was a French naturalist and ornithologist and a nephew of Napoleon. He emigrated to the United States from France and Italy in 1822 but before leaving Europe he had already discovered a warbler new to science the moustached warbler and on the voyage he collected specimens of a new storm-petrel. On arrival in the United States he presented a paper on this new bird which was later named after Alexander Wilson.<br> On his arrival in America Bonaparte set about studying the ornithology of the United States and updating Wilson's Ornithology. The revised edition was published between 1825 and 1833. His other publications included "Observations on the Nomenclature of Wilson's Ornithology" in the Journal of the Philadelphia Academy and "Synopsis of the Birds of the United States" in the Annals of the Lyceum of New York. In 1824 Bonaparte attempted to get the then unknown John James Audubon accepted by the Academy of Natural Sciences but this was opposed by the ornithologist George Ord who disliked Audubon's dramatic bird poses and considered him to be "a back-country upstart who romanticized his subject matter" according to the Audubon Galleries.<br> At the end of 1826 Bonaparte and his family returned to Europe. He visited Germany where he met Philipp Jakob Cretzschmar and England where he met John Edward Gray at the British Museum and renewed his acquaintance with Audubon. In 1828 the family settled in Rome. In Italy he was the originator of several scientific congresses and lectured and wrote extensively on American and European ornithology and other branches of natural history. Between 1832 and 1841 Bonaparte published his work on the animals of Italy Iconografia della Fauna Italica. He had also published Specchio Comparativo delle Ornithologie di Roma e di Filadelfia Pisa 1827 presenting a comparison between birds of the latitude of Philadelphia and Italian species. He created the genus Zenaida for the mourning dove and its relatives. He was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1845.<br> In 1840 he became Prince of Canino and Musignano after his father's death and became involved in politics particularly the anti-Austrian party that he joined in 1848. He did not however lose interest in his favourite studies for he organized and presided over several scientific congresses in Italy. He visited Sir William Jardine in southern Scotland and began work on preparing a methodical classification of all the birds in the world visiting museums across Europe to study the collections. In 1854 he became director of the Jardin des Plantes. In 1855 he was made a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. He published the first volume of his Conspectus Generum Avium before his death the second volume being edited by Hermann Schlegel.<br> Bonaparte was extremely prolific and is responsible for coining Latin names for a large number of bird species. As of August 2019 in the online list of birds maintained by Frank Gill and David Donsker on behalf of the International Ornithological Committee IOC Bonaparte is credited as the authority for 165 genera 203 species and 262 subspecies. wiki<br><br>Fine Bird Books p.114; Sabin 104598; Nissen IVB 992; Wood p.630; BM Natural History p. 2333 The Wilson volumes published by Bradford and Inskeep. Printed by Robert Carr; R. & W. Carr; VII-IX by Samuel F. Bradford, printe hardcover