Related Information
Carter, typically, goes further to specify “plates are whole-sheet illustrations, printed separately from the text,” and so distinguishes plates from illustrations printed on the same paper as the text (generally known as cuts or figures). In modern times, printing technology has improved and groups of photographs (known as a photo gallery) are sometimes printed on glossy paper (although they may be printed in black and white, rather than color to keep costs down) and bound in the middle of the text block — as seen with many movie tie-ins — but these would not be considered as plates, as they are not “whole-sheet” illustrations.
Older books will occasionally have a sheet of tissue paper placed between the plate and the facing page to prevent the ink from staining the plate (or vice versa).
Over the years, some books with (for example) botanical or medical plates may have had a plate to two removed for framing or other purposes, and if so the catalog description should reflect that X or Y plates are missing.
But, not all plates were originally bound into printed books. Some entrepreneurs in the 18th and 19th centuries would publish a serialized collection of lithographs over many years — this being an era when books were often sold unbound, leaving it to the wealthy collector to eventually bind the work to their taste. The "Natural Atlas” by Georg August Goldfuss was one such commercial endeavor, being issued in batches of approximately 20 prints each year between 1824 and 1842. Some examples of these individual plates are offered below.
by GOLDFUSS, Georg August
Dusseldorf, 1830. unbound. Lithograph with hand coloring. Measures 24" x 19".
Spectacular image of a lemur with its long striped tail gracefully curled above its back. Inset images of skull and teeth are included. They are endemic to the island of Madagascar. The "Natural Atlas" was a serial publication released during the mid 19th century featuring large, hand-colored lithographs of various animals, including birds, mammals, reptiles and more. Includes watermark that reads J WHATMAN. Minimal foxing and toning. Rare.
Georg August Goldfuss (1782-1848) was a German paleontologist, botanist, and zoologist. In 1820, he coined the term 'protozoa' to describe single-celled organisms.
Offered by Argosy Book Store.
1. B. Gatt. Mephitis, Cuv. Plate 189.; [Skunk]
by GOLDFUSS, Georg August
Dusseldorf, 1830. unbound. Lithograph with hand color. Measures 24 1/8" x 18 1/8".
An elegant lithograph of a striped skunk with an inset image of the animal's teeth. The "Natural Atlas" was a serial publication released during the mid 19th century featuring large, hand-colored lithographs of various animals, including birds, mammals, reptiles and more. Includes watermark that reads J WHATMAN. Creasing and toning. Rare.
Georg August Goldfuss (1782-1848) was a German paleontologist, botanist, and zoologist. In 1820, he coined the term 'protozoa' to describe single-celled organisms.
Offered by Argosy Book Store.
Serial publications featuring illustrated prints were not unique to scholars of the natural world, as these examples from Henry Purcell's The Musical Entertainer project illustrates.
by PURCELL, Henry 1659-1695
London, 1740. Unbound. Very Good. 1 leaf, with a large elaborate vignette to head illustrating the song with music and text below set for voice and figured bass intended for the accompaniment of the flute. Signed in the plate by the engraver, G. Bickham. Ca 326 x 200 mm. (12.75" x 7.85") [plate mark].
Slightly worn; minor browning to edges; minor soiling and dampstaining. From the second edition of Bickham's monumental work, first published in 1737-1739. BUC p. 107. RISM BII p. 245.
"[Purcell] was one of the most important 17th-century composers and one of the greatest of all English composers." Peter Holman and Robert Thompson in Grove Music Online.
"[Bickham ?1706-1771] was principally famous in music circles for his two illustrated folio volumes The Musical Entertainer, first issued in fortnightly parts, each containing four plates, from January 1737 to December 1739. The 200 plates are songs, headed and surrounded with pictorial embellishments illustrative of the song ..., and engraved in the style of and even copied directly from Gravelot and Watteau. This work was the first of its kind to be published in England and quickly produced imitators such as Lampe’s British Melody, engraved by Benjamin Cole." Frank Kidson et al. in Grove Music Online.
A charming engraving. The Musical Entertainer is considered one of the finest 18th century illustrated books. Complete copies of this monumental work are exceptionally rare.
Offered by J. & J. Lubrano Music Antiquarians.
by LEVERIDGE, Richard 1670-1758
London, 1740. Unbound. Very Good. 1 leaf, with a large elaborate vignette to head illustrating the song with music and text below set for voice and figured bass with a separate part for flute. Signed in the plate by the engraver, G. Bickham junr. Ca 326 x 200 mm. (12.75" x 7.85") [plate mark].
Slightly worn; minor browning to edges; minor dampstaining. From the second edition of Bickham's monumental work, first published in 1737-1739. BUC p. 107. RISM BII p. 245.
Leveridge was an English bass and composer. "For more than half a century [he] was a leading singer on the London stage and a popular composer of songs." Olive Baldwin and Thelma Wilson in Grove Music Online.
"[Bickham ?1706-1771] was principally famous in music circles for his two illustrated folio volumes The Musical Entertainer, first issued in fortnightly parts, each containing four plates, from January 1737 to December 1739. The 200 plates are songs, headed and surrounded with pictorial embellishments illustrative of the song ..., and engraved in the style of and even copied directly from Gravelot and Watteau. This work was the first of its kind to be published in England and quickly produced imitators such as Lampe’s British Melody, engraved by Benjamin Cole." Frank Kidson et al. in Grove Music Online.
A charming engraving. The Musical Entertainer is considered one of the finest 18th century illustrated books. Complete copies of this monumental work are exceptionally rare.
Offered by J. & J. Lubrano Music Antiquarians.
by Say, Thomas
Philadelphia: Samuel Augustus Mitchell, 1824, 1825, 1828. First editions. SCARCE LANDMARK EARLY STUDY OF AMERICAN INSECTS WITH FINE COLOR PLATES. Three hardcover volumes 10 inches tall, recased in pink paper-covered boards, black leather spines gilt with red leather gilt title labels, uncut pages. Vol. I: original paper title affixed to cover, title page followed by engraved additional title by C. A. Le Sueur, with tissue guard, viii, unpaginated with 18 hand colored stipple engravings—each with tissue guard and followed by descriptive text, index; Vol. II: Plates 19 – 36, index; Vol. III: Plates 37 – 54, index. Engravings in the work were created by Cornelius Tiebout, James B. Longacre, and George S. Lang, from drawings by Titian R. Peale, William W. Wood, Charles A. Lesueur and Hugh Bridport. Light wear to covers, small handstamp to verso of each title page, "This Book is no Longer the Property of the John Crerar Library" (no other library marks), pages clean and crisp with occasional light foxing, plates in vibrant color, very good in custom slipcase.
FROM AN ONLINE DESCRIPTION OF THE LINDA HALL LIBRARY COPY: "In the text, Say provided a Linnean name, and a dry technical description, but then in a section called "Observations," he wrote rather colloquially about where the specimen was found (usually somewhere along the route of the Long expedition) and what it tells us about the lives of insects. Of the spider wasp Pompilus (fourth and fifth images), Say recounted: "Descending the Arkansaw river, with Major Long's party, I was one day surprised to see a species of this genus, dragging along the ground the body of the gigantic Bird-catching spider, the Mygale avicularia, or a very closely allied species." He had similar tales to tell about most of his specimens." CITED BY MS ENGEL'S Natural Histories Innumerable Insects, New York (2018)--including illustrations of 3 of the plates from American Entomology.
THOMAS SAY (1787 – 1834) has been called the father of American entomology. He served as librarian for the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, curator at the American Philosophical Society, and professor of natural history at the University of Pennsylvania. Say trained to be an apothecary. A self-taught naturalist, Say helped found the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia (ANSP) in 1812. At the Academy, Say began his work on what he would publish as American Entomology. To collect insects, he made numerous expeditions to frontier areas, risking American Indian attacks and hazards of traveling in wild countryside. In 1818, Say accompanied his friend William Maclure, father of American geology, and other members of the Academy on a geological expedition to the offshore islands of Georgia and Florida, then a Spanish colony. In 1823, Say served as chief zoologist in Stephen Long's expedition to the headwaters of the Mississippi River. He traveled on the "Boatload of Knowledge" to the New Harmony Settlement in Indiana (1826–34), a utopian society experiment founded by Robert Owen. At New Harmony, Say completed his monumental work offered here.
TITIAN RAMSAY PEALE (1799 – 1885) was an American artist, naturalist, and explorer from Philadelphia. He was a scientific illustrator whose paintings and drawings of wildlife are known for their beauty and accuracy. He was a member of several high-profile scientific expeditions. In 1819–20, he and Thomas Say accompanied Stephen Harriman Long on an expedition to the Rocky Mountains. He was also a member of the United States Exploring Expedition (1838–1842). From 1833 to 1836, Peale managed the Philadelphia Museum, which had been founded by his father Charles Willson Peale. Like his older brothers Raphaelle, Rembrandt, and Rubens Peale, Titian helped his father in the preservation of the museum's specimens for display. CHARLES ALEXANDRE LESUEUR (1778 – 1846) was a French naturalist, artist, and explorer. Between May 1816 and early 1837, he lived and traveled widely in the United States, particularly in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Missouri. He was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1817. From 1826 to 1837, Lesueur was based in New Harmony, Indiana, where he filled sketchbooks full of the finds discovered during the utopian adventure funded by his friend and former employer, American geologist William Maclure. Lesueur returned to France in 1837, only after his friends Thomas Say and Joseph Barabino had died and William MacClure had returned to Philadelphia, accompanied by many of his fine books. He had spent 21 years in the United States, but continued his scholarly studies and activities in France, where he resumed his occupation of artist-naturalist and began to catalogue his extensive research and artwork.
HUGH BRIDPORT was a portrait painter, drawing instructor, architect, and engraver, who practiced lithography in Philadelphia 1828-1830s. Trained at the Royal Academy and with miniature painter Charles Wilkins, Bridport immigrated to Philadelphia with his artist brother George in 1816.
WILLIAM W. WOOD (1794-1869), little information available.
CORNELIUS TIEBOUT (1773 – 1832) was an American copperplate engraver. Tiebout was among the most active engravers in Philadelphia during his residence there. During 1817-1824, he was a member of the banknote firm of Tanner, Kearney, and Tiebout, located at 10 Library Street, Philadelphia. Tiebout, with daughter Caroline, 23, and son Henry, 5, arrived in New Harmony, Indiana, in October, 1826, and resided there until Tiebout's death. In New Harmony, Tiebout taught in William Maclure's School of Industry and engraved illustrations for Thomas Say's American Entomology, a project which he had begun when both he and Say lived in Philadelphia.
GEORGE SHORTREAD LANG (1799-1877) was an "engraver of considerable reputation; he afterwards went into the dry goods business on Eighth Street, from which he retired about ten years ago," according to his 1877 obituary.
JAMES BARTON LONGACRE (1794 – 1869) was an American portraitist and engraver, and the fourth chief engraver of the United States Mint from 1844 until his death. Longacre is best known for designing the Indian Head cent, which entered commerce in 1859.
Offered by Biomed Rare Books.
by ROTHSCHILD, Walter
Three parts in one. Folio. [ii], xx, xiv, 226; 227-320, 21 pp. With 83 plates, including 55 hand-colored lithograph plates by and after J.G. Keulemans and F.W. Frowhawk, 20 collotype plates from photographs (including one duplicate plate "Group of Four White Albatrosses"), and 8 monochrome plates, all tissue guards present. Red half-morocco and cloth boards, minor staining to a small portion of the front cover; other than some minor foxing to the paste-down and endleaves, an outstanding copy with the original pink printed wrappers bound in.
First edition of this landmark study of the birds of the Hawaiian Islands, limited to 250 copies. Issued in three parts, Rothschild provides a bibliography and brief survey of the origin and distribution of the Hawaiian avifauna. A summary of the diary of Henry Palmer, an ornithologist employed by Rothschild, who collected specimens on the islands between 1890 and 1893 forms the basis of this work. Palmer gathered a total of 1832 birds. The fine handcolored plates were drawn and lithographed by Keulemans. Included are fifteen new species and a number which are now extinct (and which are indicated by pencil notations in the text).
Offered by Rootenberg Rare Books.
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