Lewin | The Birds of Great-Britain. 1789-1794, 7 volumes

LEWIN, WILLIAM

The Birds of Great-Britain with their eggs. London: Printed for the author; and sold by Leigh and Sotheby, 1789–1794

7 volumes, folio  (340 x 275mm.), dedication leaf, 323 original watercolour and gouache drawings of birds (271) and eggs (52), contemporary straight-grained green morocco gilt, covers with three gilt fillet borders and cornerpieces composed of foliate, star and circle motifs, spine gilt in 7 compartments, gilt edges, some rubbing to bindings

A FINE COPY, one of only sixty sets illustrated entirely with gouache drawings by Lewin, and as such unique among bird books. The vast energy required for the production of sixty sets each comprising 323 drawings (nearly twenty thousand individual pictures in all) establishes The Birds of Great Britain as a singular monument in English ornithology.

LITERATURE:

Anker 306; ESTC T128334; Fine Bird Books, p.119; Mullens & Swann, pp.349-51; Nissen IVB 562; Wood, p 435; Zimmer, p.395

PROVENANCE:

John Warren, 1st and last Baronet (1753–1822), engraved armorial bookplate