NATURAL

Wytsman's catalogue no. 9, in French, titled 'Entomologie'.

Author: 
P. Wytsman, science bookseller, Brussels [entomology]
Publication details: 
P. Wytsman, Librarie Scientifique, 1, Rue de l'Arbre, Bruxelles.
£35.00

8vo, 8 pp. Unbound. An unopened leaf, folded twice to make four leaves. Text clear and complete. On aged and worn paper.

No. 20 of the 'Bibliotheca Entomologica'.

Author: 
Felix L. Dames, German natural history publisher and bookseller
Publication details: 
Berlin: Tasuben-Strasse 47. 1892.
£35.00

8vo, 90 pp. Stitched and unbound. 3328 priced items. Text clear and complete. On aged paper.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Wm. Gourlie Jr.') to 'Mr. Ward'.

Author: 
William Gourlie (1815-1856), Glasgow calico printer and botanist [Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward (1791-1868); William Keddie (1809-1877), Editor of the 'Scottish Guardian'; Scotland; Scottish textiles]
Publication details: 
18 June 1849; on letterhead of South Frederick Street, Glasgow.
£45.00

4to, 1 p. Sixteen lines of text. Clear and complete. Neatly written in copperplate. On lightly-aged and creased paper, with one 4 cm vertical closed tear (through one word) along fold. He will be 'in town [i.e. London] for a few days next week and will be accompanied by Mr. Keddie, Editor of the "Scottish Guardian", an ardent lover of Botany & Botanists'. Asks if Ward can 'chalk out an excursion' for them, '& perhaps accompany us, to some place like Cobham [regularly visited by Ward], where we would see English Scenery, and gather good English plants'.

List of the Annual Volumes of the Ray Society. From their Commencement, in 1844, to December, 1901.

Author: 
The Ray Society [John Ray; natural history]
Publication details: 
[1901?] Printed by Adlard and Son, Bartholomew Close, E.C.; 20, Hanover Square, W. and Dorking.
£28.00

8vo: 16 pp. Stapled pamphlet. Nothing other than the title printed on the first leaf. Text paginated [19] to 31, with publisher's slug on reverse of last leaf. On aged and creased paper, with 6 cm closed tear at central crease of outer bifolium. No copies of this title on COPAC or WorldCat.

Autograph Letter Signed to the naturalist Rev. Francis Orpen Morris (1810-1893).

Author: 
James Blackwood, Scottish publisher
Publication details: 
17 October 1857, on his business letterhead, 8 Lovell's Court, Paternoster Row.
£56.00

8vo: 2 pp. The 'idea is worth Consideration', but Blackwood 'can hardly see how any large sale cann be depended upon, so as to repay the expense of printing advertising &c.' Asks that Morris send him 'one sermon, to indicate style, length & to estimate cost'. Asks what size of paper should be used. Notices that Morris's works are 'principally on natural history'. Likes the idea of 'the <?> natural history', and 'will take an early opportunity of looking at it'. This notable London publisher is a surprising omission from BBTI.

Autograph Letter Signed to Pryor's mother.

Author: 
John Hopkinson (1844-1919), English geologist [Alfred Reginald Pryor (1839-1881); Royal Geological Society]
Publication details: 
5 March 1888; St Albans, Hertfordshire.
£56.00

12mo: 3 pp. Good, on lightly-aged paper. Concerns Pryor's posthumous 'Flora of Hertfordshire' (1887), which contained an introduction co-written by Hopkinson. Four copies of the book are being presented to Mrs Pryor 'by our Society'. 'This is partly the cause of the delay in sending them to you, for we had to wait for authority from the Council of the Society, to present them.' The rest of the letter concerns the large paper edition of the book, a copy of which Hopkinson offers to procure for Mrs Pryor 'at the subscription price'.

Scrapbook entitled 'Lightning and other Records.'

Author: 
Commander James Liddell, Royal Navy, of Bodmin, Cornwall [thunder and lightning; thunderstorms; natural phenomena; meteorology; the weather]
Publication details: 
1860-1879.
£225.00

Small quarto of around forty pages, covered in easily in excess of a hundred press cuttings, primarily relating to lightning strikes, thunder storms and other natural phenomena. Internally loose but in reasonable condition, but externally in need of attention: the heavily worn original quarter-binding, has the leather spine worn away. Manuscript label, in Liddell's hand, laid down on the marbled front board. Several of the cuttings reproduce letters from Lidddell himself, the first, dated 'Bodmin, Dec.

Letter, in a secretarial hand, signed by Cuvier ('Bn G Cuvier'), to 'Mr. Raynal, Proviseur du college Royal de Nismes'. With engraved portrait of Cuvier by T. Richomme, from a drawing by 'Mme Lizinka de Mirbel'.

Author: 
Baron Georges Cuvier [Baron Georges Léopold Chrétien Frédéric Dagobert Cuvier] (1769-1832), French naturalist [Theodore Richomme; Aimée Zoe Lizinka de Mirbel]
Publication details: 
Letter of 2 April 1822; on letterhead of the Conseil royal de l'Instruction publique. Engraving undated (circa 1840?).
£225.00

Letter: Folio (30.5 x 20 cm), 1 p. Bifolium, with text on recto of first leaf and address (with several postmarks) on reverse of second. Five lines. Text clear and complete, with good clear signature. Fair, on aged and lightly-creased paper, with 1.5 cm closed tear in top left-hand corner (not affecting text). The 'Objet de la lettre' is given as 'Envoi d'un Brevet de Pension'. The pension will be paid 'par la Caisse d'Amortissement'. Engraving: Original, on paper 24 x 15.5 cm. Captioned 'G. CUVIER.' A good clear impression on grubby, spotted and lightly-creased paper.

Mauritius; Or, The Isle of France: Being an Account of the Island, Its History, Geography, Products, and Inhabitants.

Author: 
Rev. Francis P. Flemyng [Mary Addison]
Publication details: 
[1862.] London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge; Sold at the Depositories; 77, Great Queen Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields; 4, Royal Exchange; 48, Piccadilly; and by all booksellers. [London: R. Clay, Son, and Taylor, Printers.]
£220.00

12mo: xiv + 256 + [ii] pp. Detailed fold-out map of the island, in black, blue and pink. Frontispiece and seventeen illustrations. A tight copy on lightly-aged paper, in worn original embossed green cloth binding, gilt. Map creased and with short closed tear. A nice copy of an interesting little book, bearing the bookplate of the botanist Mary Addison, to whom it was presented, according to an inscription on the front free endpaper, by the Reverend J. Hoding on 30 August 1867. A few neat synoptic notes in the margin, presumably by Addison. Four-page SPCK catalogue at rear.

Post Office Telegraph to Sir William Turner Thiselton-Dyer.

Author: 
Leopold Rothschild
Publication details: 
Handed in at Mayfair'; 3 June 1904.
£20.00

From the third son (1845-1917) of Baron Lionel de Rothschild to the noted botanist (1843-1928), Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew (1885-1905). Stamped, printed Post Office telegraph on discoloured high-acidity paper, roughly twenty-centimeters by thirteen centimeters. Mounted on larger piece of better-quality paper, also discoloured with age. Reads 'TO { Thiselton Dyer | Kew Gardens | Very many thanks Kind congratulations | Leopold Rothschild'. The reason for congratulations is unclear.

Offprint of article entitled 'Thomas Randolph. A Neglected Poet. 1605-1634.'

Author: 
Mrs Reginald Brown [Thomas Randolph (1605-1635); Northampton Natural History Society and Field Club]
Publication details: 
[Journal of the Northampton Natural History Society and Field Club, 1932.]
£56.00

8vo: 11 pp (on 6 leaves) paginated 127-137. Plate carrying portrait of Randolph facing p.132. Stitched and unbound. Heavily foxed, and with a central vertical fold. PRESENTATION COPY, with the words 'With the writer's Compliments.' at head of p.127. The source of the article is deduced from the information contained on the verso of final leaf, which is headed '56th Annual Report, 1932.' No copy of this offprint listed on COPAC.

Lectures on the Heathen Gods. Adapted to the School Room. By the author of "Insect History."

Author: 
[Hatchard; Hamilton, Adams & Co.; Seacome; Chester, Cheshire; provincial printing; nineteenth-century children's books; Victorian education]
Publication details: 
London: J. Hatchard and Son, 107, Piccadilly; Hamilton, Adams, and Co. Paternoster Row: and J. Seacome, Chester. 1840. [T. Thomas, Printer, Eastgate Street, Chester.]
£100.00

12mo: viii + 412 pp. Errata slip tipped in at rear. In original brown cloth boards with title in gilt on green leather label on spine. A tight copy, with occasional light foxing, in worn boards. Inscribed on the ffep to 'The Rev G. B. Blomfield With the authors Respects'. Only three copies on COPAC (Glasgow, Liverpool and Nottingham).

Two Autograph Letters Signed ('Edwd. Jesse' and 'Edward Jesse') to [Edward] Walford.

Author: 
Edward Jesse (1780-1868), English naturalist and author [Edward Walford (1823-1897)]
Publication details: 
13 October 1863, 16 Belgrave Place; 30 July 1867, Brighton.
£85.00

Letter One (12mo, 2 pp; good, with glue from previous mounting to reverse of blank second leaf of bifolium): Jesse hears 'that there has been a violent attack made on my lectures to the Brighton Fishermen in "the Field" of last Saturday'. He 'published these lectures in the hopes that they might be useful to many people'. He 'gave the Copyright to Mr. Booth the publisher & never recovered one farthing profit for them'. 'They were written for an ignorant club of men without any pretension'.

Alexander von Humboldt : bibliographische Übersicht seiner Werke, Schriften und zerstreuten Abhandlungen.

Author: 
Julius Löwenberg [Lowenberg]
Publication details: 
Stuttgart: F.A. Brockhaus Komm.-Gesch. Gmbh. Abt. Antiquarium. 1960.
£56.00

8vo: 68 pp. In original printed wraps. Good, with light vertical crease to front wrap. Six copies on COPAC, but none at the British Library.

Autograph Letter Signed ['J. Arthur Thomson'] to an unnamed firm of publishers.

Author: 
Sir John Arthur Thomson (1861-1933), Professor of Natural History at the University of Aberdeen, 1899-1930
Publication details: 
10 August 1914; his letterhead from the Natural History Department, Marischal College, The University, Aberdeen.
£100.00

One page, octavo. On aged paper, with slight chipping to corners, but text clear and entire. He is afraid that he 'did not answer your second letter in regard to a book on Sex.' 'After careful consideration', Thomas and 'Prof. Geddes' [Sir Patrick Geddes, 1854-1932] have come to the conclusion that 'if we wrote another book on that subject it should be published either by "Walter Scott" (who has 'The Evolution of Sex') or by Williams and Norgate (who have 'Sex')' [both books, 1889 and 1914 respectively, also by Geddes and Thomson].

Four handbills relating to the election of the Society's council and officers for 1870, and a copy of 'Report of the Auditors of the Accounts of the Zoological Society of London, Appointed January 21, 1869.'

Author: 
Zoological Society of London [Philip Lutley Sclater; Edward Greenaway; Edward Johnstone; James Tennant; Alexander Nowell Sherson; H. E. Dresser; Robert Low; F. Du Cane Godman]
Publication details: 
Report dated from '11 Hanover Square, February 26, 1869'; handbills all dated 1869.
£86.00

All items are good, on lightly aged paper. The 'Report of the Auditors of the Accounts' is seven pages, octavo, stitched and unbound. It consists of five full-page tables: 'Receipts', 'Payments', 'Comparison of Receipts in 1867 and 1868', 'Comparison of Payments in 1867 and 1868' and one showing 'The Assets and Liabilities of the Society on the 31st of December 1868'. Comment by the seven auditors (all named) on final page, remarking on 'the unexampled state of prosperity of the Zoological Society at the close of the previous year'. The four handbills are each on one side of a 12mo leaf.

Printed handbill advertising the publication of Kirby's 'Monographia Apum Angliae'.

Author: 
William Kirby [John White, bookseller; Stephen Couchman, printer]
Publication details: 
London: 'Printed for the AUTHOR, and Sold by J. WHITE, Fleet-Street. Printed by S. Couchman, Throgmorton-Street.' [1802].
£120.00

One page, on rough-edged grey wove paper, roughly nine inches by six wide. An attractive production of twenty-two lines, with ornamental rules top and bottom, headed 'This Day is Published, | IN TWO VOLUMES OCTAVO, | PRICE ONE GUINEA IN BOARDS, | Monographia Apum Angliae; | [...] | By WILLIAM KIRBY, B.A. F.L.S. | RECTOR of Barham in Suffolk. | [...]'. According to BBTI John White traded between 1785 and 1816 and Stephen Couchman between 1774 and 1825.

Autograph Letter Signed "D Brewster" to "Dr Bostock", Liverpool, medical writer, etc.

Author: 
Sir David Brewster.
Publication details: 
Edr 13 Hope Street, 25 May 1815.
£150.00

Natural scientist (see DNB). Two pages, 4to, some damage and marking but text clear and complete. "You will have probably seen from the progres of the Encyclopaedia, that we are now approaching very rapidly to the article Galvinism [underlined] which you were so kind as to undertake. We are printing at present the article Fortification . . . & I think we shall require it for press on the Ist of |September." He asks for an estimate of the number of sheets the article will occupy, how many plates or separate figures to illustrate.

Autograph letters signed (x 2) to Sir William [Henry] Flower (1831-99), director of the Natural History Museum,

Author: 
Sir George Otto Trevelyan
Publication details: 
1891 and 1898.
£50.00

English historian (1838-1928). The first letter, 27 February 1891, with letterhead 8 Grosvenor Crescent, one page, 12mo. "Dear Flower, / I have a great deal of work tomorrow morning: but I will certainly come to the general meeting, and to the Standing Committee as soon as I can get there." Long vertical tear caused by removal from mount, traces of which adhere to blank verso. The second letter, 18 October 1898, with letterhead Wallington, Cambo, Northumberland. 3 pages, 12mo.

Fragment of Autograph Letter Signed to unnamed male correspondent.

Author: 
George Combe
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£23.00

Victorian phrenologist (1788-1858) and natural philosopher. Paper dimensions roughly seven and a half inches by three inches. Folded four times. Good, but worn and with some loss to bottom corners from previous mounting. Reads 'I am | My dear Sir | Yours most truly | Geo: Combe | If you see Mr. <?> at the meeting put this letter into his hands, lest I should not see him before it. | [signed] G C'.

Autograph Signature on fragment of letter.

Author: 
George Combe
Publication details: 
Without date or place.
£25.00

Victorian phrenologist (1788-1858) and natural philosopher. Paper dimensions roughly four and a half inches by two and a quarter. Very good. From autograph album. Mounted on larger piece of lilac paper. Crease line affecting first line of text. Reads 'I am | My dear Major Mair | Very truly yours | Geo. Combe'. Docketed in pencil at foot by Dame Sarah Elizabeth Siddons Mair (died 1941) '(Phrenologist) | Written to my Father - S. E. S. M.'

Printed invitation to the 'opening of the Cosmo Melvill Herbarium'.

Author: 
Sir James Cosmo Melvill [THE MANCHESTER MUSEUM, OWENS COLLEGE]
Publication details: 
31 October 1904; printed by Cuthbertson & Black of Manchester.
£35.00

Melvill was a noted English botanist (1845-1929). 8vo bifoliate. Four unpaginated pages. In very good condition, with some discolouration from age and remains of stub from previous mounting adhering to verso of second leaf. Decorative vignettes on all four sides. Engraving of Museum on recto of first leaf. 'PROGRAMME' (reception; tea and coffee; address by Sir William Turner Thiselton Dyer; inspection) on verso of first leaf. Description of 'AN EXHIBITION | of | A SERIES OF SPECIMENS | from the Herbarium' on both sides of second leaf.

Two Autograph Letters Signed to [F. J.] Epps[, F.G.S.]

Author: 
Sir Philip Manson-Bahr
Publication details: 
The first, 24 May 1951, on letterhead 'THE OLD COTTAGE, | POOTINGS, | NR. EDENBRIDGE, | KENT.'; the second, 3 January 1952, on letterhead '149, HARLEY STREET, W.1. | (MARYLEBONE ROAD END)'.
£80.00

English physician specialising in tropical medicine (1881-1966). Both 1 page, 16mo. Both dusty but in good condition. The first on blue paper the second on light green. In the first letter he says he is 'glad to be able to report that my paper has been written & is now being typed out. It has taken me many hours to do so in order to make it interesting & attractive to the non-medical reader. Whether I have succeeded in doing so I must leave to you to decide.' He says the paper 'should be in your hands by Monday next.

A Darwin Symposium. Darwin, Evolution and Modern Life (The British Society for the History of Science).

Author: 
Charles Darwin (Symposium).
Publication details: 
14/03/59
£50.00

Ephemera relating to this even in the Auditorium of the Wellcome Building, including the Prospectus and application for tickets, one page, 4to; tickets for the Symposium and Buffet Lunch (2); and the Programme (speakers include J.S. Weiner, Asa Briggs, J.M. Thoday, F.E. Zeuner, etc), 4pp., 8vo, brief notes on lectures added by Nehemiah Asherson, Harley Street specialist.

Eight Autograph Letters Signed "Stanley" to Messrs Routledge, publishers.

Author: 
Henry Edward John Stanley, 3rd Earl.
Publication details: 
1851-1871
£400.00

Diplomatist and orientalist (see DNB). Total 20pp., 8vo, good condition. The main subject is illustrations of animals and birds perhaps relating to a book (a "book" is mentioned) which I cannot trace in NSTC, etc., but perhaps multiple copies of pages of illustrations of monkeys, kangaroos, cats, dogs, birds, seals, squirrels, etc. His first letter is dated 27 July 1851 (signed "Stanley" by Henry had not yet succeeded to the title[?]) and he asks "Will you commence printing a thousand of the monkeys. How many thousand sheets would form a convenient parcel . . . 6000 . .

Typed Letter Signed to F. R. McQuown.

Author: 
Ian William Beresford Nye
Publication details: 
15 September 1964, on letterhead of the British Museum (Natural History), Department of Entomology.
£35.00

Entomologist (1924-), author of the monumental 'Generic names of moths of the world' (6 vols, 1975-91). The recipient is the author of several works on gardening. 1 page, 8vo. In good condition, but creased and with one closed tear and with sellotape stains at head and foot. He thanks his correspondent for the letter of 10 September enclosing a caterpillar, and compliments him on its preservation. '[I]t is in perfect condition for determination. It is very difficult to preserve the green coloration, as in life.' He identifies the specimen as a cabbage moth.

Autograph postcard signed to H. Tuckwell.

Author: 
John O. Westwood.
Publication details: 
Oxford, 26 June 1891.
£40.00

Entomologist and palaeographer (1805-1903). As follows: "Mrs Doncaster 36 Strand London, W.C. near Charing Cross sells Insect Pins [?] & all other apparatus of the like character, as well as British & foreign Insects, Caterpillars, Eggs, &c."

Autograph Note Signed to an unnamed correspondent

Author: 
Edward Jesse.
Publication details: 
25/02/58
£25.00

Writer on natural history (1780-1868). One page, 8vo, good. He thanks his correspondent for his “interesting pamphlet” and discusses rough drawings of swans he is sending him.

autograph postcards signed (x 2) to F. O. Whitaker,

Author: 
Alfred Barton Rendle
Publication details: 
4 and 9 January 1929, both with letterhead of the British Museum Department of Natural History, Cromwell Road.
£40.00

Botanist (1865-1938). Both 12mo. Both stamped and addressed in autograph to "F. O. Whitaker Esq. / 45 Elmdene Rd / Plumstead / S. E. 18". The first, with a crease to one corner: "I have just seen Mr Salmon who is anxious to be at the B M. Secl. meeting. Mon Tues or Wed in the next week (Jan 21 22 or 23) would suit both of us. Can you arrange for one of these days?" The second: "I have sent on the letter to Mr Salmon. Please call the meeting for Jan 15 as originally suggested." Both signed "A. B. Rendle". Two items,

Autograph Notes Signed (x 2) to Shirley Slocombe, portrait painter

Author: 
James Dewar.
Publication details: 
14 and 17 April 1906
£30.00

Scottish natural philosopher. One page, 8vo. He finds the invitation to a lecture at the "Club" interesting but cannot manage it. He would welcome a copy of "any scientific abstract of the Lecture".

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