5 volumes, 4to
1842 · Philadelphia
by HOLBROOK, John Edward
Philadelphia: E.G. Dorsey for J. Dobson, Robert Baldwin, et al., 1842. 5 volumes, 4to. 11 1/8 x 9 inches. 147 hand-colored lithographic plates, errata slips tipped in before tables of contents in volumes I, II, IV, and VI, errata leaf at end of Volume V. 19th-century brown morocco and pebbled grain cloth, spines decorated and titled in gilt, top edges gilt
Provenance: Ostrom Enders (American diplomat, 1931-1996, bookplates)
Holbrook's great work, the first comprehensive study of the reptiles of North America.
The first edition of this work was issued in 1836-38 and is a notoriously difficult work to find, and the fourth volume of that edition is virtually unobtainable. Bennett remarks that this expanded second edition, with thirty-six additional plates and their descriptions of new specimens, "was not a mere extension of the first, but an entirely revised classification made necessary by new information and new specimens." He also states that the second edition is "the first anybody is likely to complete in fine condition." The great Philadelphia lithographer, Peter S. Duval, executed the plates for both editions, entirely redrawing the lithographic stones for the second edition. Several of the plates are what Duval dubbed "lithotints," plates with several tones of printed color which were then finished by hand. Born in South Carolina, Holbrook spent four years in Europe after gaining a degree in medicine from the University of Pennsylvania. He formed particular friendships with a group of eminent French zoologists, including Valenciennes, Duméril and Bibron. Their major area of study was reptiles, and Holbrook decided to follow their lead, returning to America in 1822 and settling in Charleston. While practicing medicine and filling the post of professor of anatomy at the newly constituted University of South Carolina, he undertook the preparation of the present work. According to the DAB, the second edition "at once took its place as one of the most valuable works upon reptiles published ruing the nineteenth century, receiving notable recognition in Europe, where Holbrook was regarded as the leading American zoologist of his day" The work includes thirty plates of turtles and terrapins, an alligator, thirteen lizards, forty-seven snakes, twenty-four frogs and toads, and thirty-two salamanders and others. The text about each species generally includes a detailed description (color, dimensions, etc)., geographial distribution, habits, and general remarks. Holbrook intended the work to include "with a few exceptions...descriptions of such Reptiles only as inhabit the United States, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Rocky Mountains, and from Canada to the confines of Texas."
Bennett, p.57; Nissen ZBI 1980; BMNH II:861; Sabin 32454; Wood, p.388; Reese, Stamped with a National Character 18; McGrath, pp.39,48-49,51. (Inventory #: 41911)
Provenance: Ostrom Enders (American diplomat, 1931-1996, bookplates)
Holbrook's great work, the first comprehensive study of the reptiles of North America.
The first edition of this work was issued in 1836-38 and is a notoriously difficult work to find, and the fourth volume of that edition is virtually unobtainable. Bennett remarks that this expanded second edition, with thirty-six additional plates and their descriptions of new specimens, "was not a mere extension of the first, but an entirely revised classification made necessary by new information and new specimens." He also states that the second edition is "the first anybody is likely to complete in fine condition." The great Philadelphia lithographer, Peter S. Duval, executed the plates for both editions, entirely redrawing the lithographic stones for the second edition. Several of the plates are what Duval dubbed "lithotints," plates with several tones of printed color which were then finished by hand. Born in South Carolina, Holbrook spent four years in Europe after gaining a degree in medicine from the University of Pennsylvania. He formed particular friendships with a group of eminent French zoologists, including Valenciennes, Duméril and Bibron. Their major area of study was reptiles, and Holbrook decided to follow their lead, returning to America in 1822 and settling in Charleston. While practicing medicine and filling the post of professor of anatomy at the newly constituted University of South Carolina, he undertook the preparation of the present work. According to the DAB, the second edition "at once took its place as one of the most valuable works upon reptiles published ruing the nineteenth century, receiving notable recognition in Europe, where Holbrook was regarded as the leading American zoologist of his day" The work includes thirty plates of turtles and terrapins, an alligator, thirteen lizards, forty-seven snakes, twenty-four frogs and toads, and thirty-two salamanders and others. The text about each species generally includes a detailed description (color, dimensions, etc)., geographial distribution, habits, and general remarks. Holbrook intended the work to include "with a few exceptions...descriptions of such Reptiles only as inhabit the United States, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Rocky Mountains, and from Canada to the confines of Texas."
Bennett, p.57; Nissen ZBI 1980; BMNH II:861; Sabin 32454; Wood, p.388; Reese, Stamped with a National Character 18; McGrath, pp.39,48-49,51. (Inventory #: 41911)
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