Modern Book, Soft cover book.
Author, Creators:
Mark Catesby, 1683 to 1749; Revised By Mr. Edwards
of Royal College of Physicians.
-- London, Charles Marsh + Thomas Wilcox and Benjamin
Stichall (1754)
Title: (From the Title Page)
The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama
Islands : Containing the Figures
of Birds, Beasts, Fishes, Serpents, Insects and Plants :
Particularly the Forest Trees, Shrubs,
and other Plants, not hitherto described, Together with
their Descriptions in English and French.
To which are added, Observations on the Air, Soil and Waters
: With Remarks upon Agriculture, Grain,
Pulse, Roots, etc. To the whole is prefixed a new and
correct Map of the Countries treated of.
By the Late Mark Catesby, F. R. S Revis'd by Mr. Edwards of
the Royal College of Physicians, London.
Vol. I
Histoire Naturelle de La Caroline, la Floride, and les Isles
Bahama : Contenant les Desseins Des Oiseaux,
Animaux, Poissons, Serpents, Insectes and Plantes. Et en
particulier des Arbres de Forets Arbrisseaux and
autres Plantes, qui n'ont point ete decrits jusques a
present par les auteurs ou peu exactement deffines.
Avec leur Descriptions in Francois and en Anglois. A qui on
a adjoute, Des Observations sur l'Air, le Sol, and
les Eaux, avec des Remarques sur l'Agriculture, les Grains,
les Legumes, les Racines, etc. Le tout est precede
d'un Carte noubelle and exacte des Pais dont ils s'agist.
Par le Feu Marc Catesby, de la Society Royale.
Et reveu par Monsieur Edwards, Du college Royale des
Medecins de Londres : Tome I
Details:
260 pages. Volume 1
only. Privately published, exact text and illustrations reproduced
in brilliant color.
About 8" x 12.75" tome.
Text is in both English and
French.
Simply a wonderful edition of Catesby's work in natural habitats of
during early exploration of the United States.
Subject, Features: Flora and fauna, habitat and exact
drawings, etching style illustrations of the natural wonders of the
new country now known as the United States.
Reprint by Library Archive Services, it is undated, but clearly a
modern edition. Produced for research purposes since the original
text is fragile or very rare. Both book and text are clean and
unmarked. Very good condition.
Firmly desirable.
Paper / Soft cover reprint edition in very good condition, flex covers,
cloth bound, a sturdy book. Overall wonderful academic reprint book.
It would make a great gift for the fan in your life, even if that's you.
Clean and Unmarked Text. Very Good condition. Modern, undated
replica.
Text is in English. Reproduced same as original issue.
-- Defects: None found. Only bookshop edge wear from
being on the shelf.
About the Author:
Catesby was born on 24 March 1683 and baptised
at Castle Hedingham, Essex on 30 March 1683. His father, John
Catesby (buried 12 November 1703), was a local politician and
gentleman farmer. His mother was Elizabeth Jekyll (buried 5
September 1708). The family owned a farm and house, Holgate, in
Sudbury, Suffolk as well as property in London.
An acquaintance with the naturalist John Ray led to Catesby becoming
interested in natural history. The death of his father left Catesby
enough to live on, so in 1712, he accompanied his sister Elizabeth
to Williamsburg, Virginia. She was the wife of Dr. William Cocke,
who had been a member of the Council and Secretary of State for the
Colony of Virginia. According to their father's will, Elizabeth had
married Dr. Cocke against her father's wishes.
Catesby visited the West Indies in 1714, and returned to Virginia,
then home to England in 1719.
Catesby had collected seeds and botanical specimens in Virginia and
Jamaica. He sent the pressed specimens to Dr. Samuel Dale of
Braintree in Essex, and gave seeds to a Hoxton nurseryman Thomas
Fairchild as well as to Dale and to the Bishop of London, Dr Henry
Compton. Plants from Virginia, raised from Catesby's seeds, made his
name known to gardeners and scientists in England, and in 1722 he
was recommended by William Sherard to undertake a plant-collecting
expedition to Carolina on behalf of certain members of the Royal
Society.
From May 1722, Catesby was based in Charleston, South Carolina, and
travelled to other parts of that colony, collecting plants and
animals. He sent preserved specimens to Hans Sloane and to William
Sherard, and seeds to various contacts including Sherard and Peter
Collinson.
Consequently, Catesby was responsible for introducing such plants as
Catalpa bignonioides and the eponymous Catesbaea spinosa (lilythorn)
to cultivation in Europe. Catesby returned to England in 1726.
Catesby spent the next twenty years preparing and publishing his
Natural History. Publication was financed by subscriptions from his
"Encouragers" as well as an interest-free loan from one of the
fellows of the Royal Society, the Quaker Peter Collinson. Catesby
learnt how to etch the copper plates himself. The first eight plates
had no backgrounds, but from then on Catesby included plants with
his animals. He completed the first part in May 1729 and presented
it to Queen Caroline; first volume, comprising five parts, was
finished in November 1732.
Mark Catesby was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in February
1733 and was made a member of the Society of Gentlemen of Spalding
in December 1743.
Notable: The ivory-billed woodpecker, which was sadly later to
become extinct in North America, although one was reportedly sighted
in the wild in Arkansas in 2005.
The second volume containing another five parts was completed in
December 1743, and in 1747 he produced a supplement from material
sent to him by friends in America, particularly John Bartram, and
also his younger brother, John, who was based with a British
regiment in Gibraltar.
Not all the plates in Natural history are by Catesby: several,
including the splendid and famous image of Magnolia grandiflora were
by Georg Ehret. Catesby's original preparatory drawings for Natural
History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands are in the Royal
Library, Windsor Castle, and selections have been exhibited in USA,
Japan and various places in England including at the Queen's
Gallery, London, in 1997–1998, and Gainsborough's House in Sudbury
in 2015.
On 5 March 1747, Catesby read a paper entitled "Of birds of passage"
to the Royal Society in London, and he is now recognised as one of
the first people to describe bird migration. (Source, Wikipedia.)
Enjoy!
Location: from inventory, 5030515-V1-0124
