Lot 307 - A206 Books & Autographs - Wednesday, 20. September 2023, 02.00 PM
ZOOLOGY - Entomology -
Harris, Moses.
The Aurelian. A natural history of english insects; namely moths and butterflies. With engraved, historically colored frontispiece, engraved title vignette, and 41 historically colored copperplate engravings.
London, for the author, 1766. Folio. [6] leaves, 77 (corrected to 30) pages. Contemporary leather binding with gold-embossed spine label.
Nissen ZBI 1835 - Hagen I, 341, Nr. 1 - ESTC T22753 - Lisney 229. - First edition. - Wide-margined copy (approximately 45.8 × 27.8 cm). - Moses Harris (1730–1787) was not only a talented artist but also an entomologist, and this work contains examples of more than forty butterflies and moths, as well as some beetles and dragonflies. - Relatively even browning, slightly spotted in places. Plate XXVIII with a slight breakthrough in the lower white margin (outside the illustration). - Some annotations by an old hand. Attached at the back is an 8-page handwritten table of contents. - Provenance: From the former collection of Henry Huck Gibbs (1819–1907) with an engraved bookplate by Herbert Bone and a handwritten ownership entry on the front endpaper. - Enclosed: Letter to the previous owner.
CHF 3 000 / 5 000 | (€ 3 090 / 5 150)
Sold for CHF 4 375 (including buyer’s premium)
All information is subject to change.