Selby, Prideaux John

4 volumes (2 of text, 2 of plates), 8vo (220 x 140mm.) and folio (665 x 532mm.), plate volumes with engraved titles, 218 hand-coloured engraved plates, 4 plain anatomical plates, later half morocco with modern lettering pieces on upper covers, [Fine Bird Books, p.107; Nissen IVB 853; Zimmer, p.571], a few plates shaved, some slight fraying and repaired marginal tears, occasional spotting, pronounced on one plate, Land Birds plate 63 bound with Water Birds, lettering pieces on upper covers transposed

William Mitford, five original receipts for the work from Hurst, Robinson and Co., dated 1821 and 1825, loosely inserted into the text volumes (Mitford was a cousin of Selby's wife, Lewis Tabitha Mitford); thence by family descent

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing, where appropriate
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

"'The most splendid and costly work yet published on the birds of Great Britain'" (William Swainson, quoted in Jackson). The work was issued irregularly, and consequently there is no consensus about what constitutes a first edition.

Prideaux John Selby (1788-1867) "was... gifted as an artist, and the two volumes of Illustrations of British Ornithology are outstandingly beautiful. In many people's estimation, the clarity and crispness of his figures gives them an austere beauty that is lacking in the pretty lithographs of H. L. Meyer's and John Gould's books... The cool, classical quality of Selby's plates belongs to the age of elegance and could have never been achieved by the Victorian John Gould. Selby's bird figures were the most accurate delineations of British birds to that date, and the liveliest. After so many books with small, stiff bird portraits, this new atlas with its life-size figures and more relaxed drawing was a great achievement in the long history of bird illustration" (Jackson).

The plate numbering for this work is notoriously erratic. The present copy collates as Zimmer, except that plate 87 (Solan gannet) is present, and is called for in the text, but not by Zimmer; and plate 89 bis, called for by Zimmer but not by the text, is absent and was probably never issued.