Edwards (George). A Natural History of Birds

Edwards (George). A Natural History of Birds, Gleanings of Natural History, 7 vols., 362 hand-coloured engraved plates, 4 uncoloured plates in vol.1, 3 of them folding, lacking coloured frontispiece and portrait, occasional offsetting, edge of engraved map shaved, contemporary russia, gilt, bookplates, spines dry and worn, joints cracked, [Nissen IVB 286 & 288], 4to, 1743-64 (7) 'At its date of issue The Natural History and Gleanings was one of the most important of all bird books, both as a fine bird book and as a work on ornithology. It is still high on each list.' (Fine Bird Books) It was during the period when George Edwards had been appointed as librarian to the Royal College of Physicians that he began work on this monumental enterprise preparing a series of drawings of birds and animals which subsequently were used as the basis for this work. 316 of the plates are of birds and the remainder of animals.