Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot | Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux de l'Amerique Septentrionale, Paris, 1807 [-1808], 2 volumes

Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot

Histoire naturelle des oiseaux de l'Amerique Septentrionale, contenant un grand nombre d'espèces décrites ou figurées pour la première fois. Paris: Desray, 1807 [-1808]

FIRST EDITION, 2 volumes, folio (525 x 352 mm.), 131 engraved plates after J.G. Prêtre by L. Bouquet, printed in colours by Langlois and finished by hand, modern green half morocco over marbled boards, spine with raised bands in six compartments, leaves uncut, marbled endpapers, scattered spotting, some transfer from illustrations onto facing leaves, spines faded to brown

A classic of American ornithology. The present work contains descriptions of many North American birds, some of which predate those of Alexander Wilson. Vieillot, 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 Vieillot was one of the more discerning ornithologists who gave particular study to female, immature and seasonal plumages" (Allen).

Some copies are recorded with a double-page engraved map of North America not present in this copy.

LITERATURE:

Allen 549-552; Anker 515; Fine Bird Books, p. 112; McGill/Wood, p. 612; Nissen IVB 957; Zimmer pp. 654-655