Moses Harris | L'Aurelien, London, 1794, red morocco gilt by Staggemeier, coloured plates

Moses Harris

L'Aurelian: ou histoire naturelle des chenilles, chrysalides, phalenes et papillons anglois; avec les plantes dont ils se nourissent. London: J. Edwards, 1794

Folio (410 x 280mm.), parallel text in English and French in double column, title within hand-coloured engraved border, hand-coloured engraved schematic plate at end of preliminaries, e2 (containing list of terms) bound at end, 44 hand-coloured engraved plates (on Whatman paper watermarked 1794), contemporary red straight-grained morocco gilt by Staggemeier & Welcher, palmette border, gilt edges, without frontispiece, occasional light foxing, slightly rubbed, lower joint cracked at head

A reissue of Harris's famous Aurelian (see lot 101), with the 1794 title-page and plates (Lisney 234), and the letterpress text from the second edition first issue of 1778 (Lisney 231). This copy does not have the frontispiece which is usually found in the 1778 edition but not in the 1794 edition. The plates are on shorter paper than the earlier editions (a few deckle edges remain) and contain an additional plate mark towards the edge of the leaves; they are printed in brown ink rather than black. Plates 17 and 35 are in their second state with amended dedications.

LITERATURE:

ESTC T163472 (& N21994); Lisney 234 (& 231)

PROVENANCE:

[From Canon Gibson's library, manuscript note on flyleaf by]; Benjamin Morgan Cowie (1816-1900), dean of Exeter, armorial bookplate; price £12/-/- on flyleaf