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"Charmer of serpents - why not try the birds?": First Edition of Roger Tory Peterson's First Book A Field Guide to the Birds; Warmly Inscribed by Him
PETERSON, ROGER TORY.
Field Guide to the Birds: Giving Field Marks of All Species Found in Eastern North America.
Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company 1934.
First edition, third state with the date on the copyright page of Peterson’s first book. Octavo, original green pebbled cloth, illustrated with 4 color plates with printed overlays, 32 monochrome plates. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, “To Claire Kelly, charmer of serpents – why not try the birds? – Roger T. Peterson (Dictator) – C.M. Beal (Interpreter).” The recipient Claire Kelly, while a student at Cornell dated Peterson’s personal assistant C.M. Beal and at the time she was also working with snakes at the Museum of Natural History. In very good condition with some light dampstaining.
Price: $3,500.00 Item Number: 102012
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Rare first edition of James Bolton's magnificently illustrated Harmonia Ruralis; containing eighty copper-plates of life-size male and female songbirds drawn, engraved, and coloured by the author
BOLTON, JAMES.
Harmonia Ruralis; or, An Essay Towards A Natural History of British Songbirds.
London: Printed For and Sold By the Author 1794.
Rare first edition of Bolton’s magnificently illustrated work on British songbirds. First issue with the original plates 7 and 13 which differ in later issues. Quarto, two volumes bound into one in three quarters morocco with gilt titles and tooling to the spine, marbled endpapers, top edge gilt, illustrated with eighty copper-plates of life-size male and female songbirds drawn, engraved and colored by the author, index. In near fine condition. First editions are rare, with only a handful appearing at auction in the last 100 years.
Price: $12,500.00 Item Number: 111071
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Scarce first edition of Maxwell Knight's Talking Birds; illustrated and signed by David Cornwell aka John le Carre
KNIGHT, MAXWELL. ILLUSTRATED BY DAVID CORWELL [JOHN LE CARRE].
Talking Birds.
London: G. Belll & Sons, Ltd 1961.
First edition of Knight’s work on the varying capabilities of talking birds; illustrated by David Cornwell (John le Carre) and one of his earliest appearances in print. Octavo, original cloth, illustrated by David Corwell. Signed by him on the title page with both his real and pen name, “David Cornwell x x a.k.a. John le Carre.” Near fine in a near fine dust jacket. Jacket photograph by Alec Brooksbank. Small ownership name. Scarce signed by Le Carre with not other signed copies traced in auction records.
Price: $3,200.00 Item Number: 131508
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First edition of Arctic Wings: Birds of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; from the library of American writer and environmentalist Peter Matthiessen
BROWN, STEPHEN [EDITOR]. FOREWORD BY JIMMY CARTER. INTRODUCTION BY DAVID ALLEN SIBLEY [PETER MATTHIESSEN].
Arctic Wings: Birds of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Seattle: The Mountaineers Books 2006.
First edition of this stunning tribute to the birds of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Quarto, original cloth, illustrated with color photographs. From the library of Peter Matthiessen. American writer Peter Matthiessen remains the only writer to have won the National Book Award in both nonfiction (The Snow Leopard, 1979) and fiction (Shadow Country, 2008). A prominent environmental activist, Matthiessen received the National Book Award for Fiction in 2008 at the age of 81 for Shadow Country. “No one writes more lyrically [than Matthiessen] about animals or describes more movingly the spiritual experience of mountaintops, savannas, and the sea” (Michael Dirda). With Matthiessen’s bookplate to the pastedown and his underlines and marginalia throughout. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket.
Price: $275.00 Item Number: 135489
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First Edition of Mary McCarthy's Birds of America; Inscribed by the author
MCCARTHY, MARY.
Birds of America.
New York: Harcourt, Brace Jovanovich 1971.
First edition of this classic work. Octavo, original cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the title page, “To Harlan Umansky my thanks, Mary McCarthy November 5, 1984.” Near fine in a near fine dust jacket. Jacket drawing by Peter Vos. Jacket design by Paul Bacon. Jacket photograph of Mary McCarthy by Jack Nisberg. An exceptional example.
Price: $650.00 Item Number: 142315
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First octavo edition, presentation copy of John James Audubon's The Birds of America; warmly inscribed by him in both volumes I and II to Lydia E. E. Greene
AUDUBON, JOHN JAMES.
The Birds of America, From Drawings Made In The United States And Their Territories.
New York: Published by J. J. Audubon. Philadelphia: J. B. Chevalier 1840-1844.
First octavo edition of Audubon’s landmark work; one of the most spectacular collections of ornithological prints ever produced. Royal octavo, 7 volumes bound in full 19th-century morocco by P. Low of Boston with their ticket, gilt titles and ruling to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands, gilt ruling to the front and rear panels, gilt turn-ins, marbled endpapers, ribbons bound in. Illustrated with 500 hand-colored lithographed plates after Audubon by W. E. Hitchcock, R. Trembly and others, printed and colored by J. T. Bowen, wood-engraved anatomical diagrams in text. Presentation copy, inscribed by John James Audubon on the on the contents leaf of volume one, “Miss Lydia E. E. Greene with the affectionate good wishes of her friend and servant, John J. Audubon, Boston, June 8, 1844” and additionally on the front free endpaper of Vol. II., “Miss Lydia, E. E. Greene; and may God bless her, with the sincerest wishes of her old friend and servant, John J. Audubon, Boston, June 8, 1844.” The recipient, Lydia E. E. Greene became a Proprietor of the Boston Athenaeum in 1854. Audubon spent only a few months living in Boston from 1832-1833, but the city made an impact on him; his wife Lucy wrote to a friend that the city “is a more interesting place than any I have seen in the United States, and where we met with a most cordial welcome and obtained eight subscribers to our work [The Birds of America].” Audubon exhibited sketches of his Birds of America at the Boston Athenaeum in August 1832. In very good condition with the plates exceptionally clean.
Price: $200,000.00 Item Number: 143567
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First editions Ransom Riggs' The Miss Peregrine Series; Each Signed by him
RIGGS, RANSOM.
The Miss Peregrine Series Including: Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, Hollow City, Library of Souls, Tales of the Peculiar, Map of Days, The Conference of the Birds.
New York : Random House various dates.
First editions of the first six volumes in the author’s acclaimed series. Octavo, original boards, illustrated. Each are signed by Ransom Riggs on the half-title and title pages. Fine in fine dust jackets.
Price: $850.00 Item Number: 128727
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"I wake earlier, now that the birds have come and sing in the unfailing trees": First American Edition of Mary Oliver's First Book No Voyage and Other Poems; Signed Twice by Her
OLIVER, MARY.
No Voyage and Other Poems.
Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company 1965.
First American edition of the poet’s scarce first book. Octavo, original cloth. Signed twice by Mary Oliver, once on the half-title page and again on the title page. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with light shelfwear. Jacket design by Janet Halverson. Author photograph by Molly Malone Cook. An exceptional example.
Price: $7,500.00 Item Number: 39865