McGill Library's Chapbook Collection

Bibliographic Citation:

A natural history of reptiles, serpents, and insects. Alnwick : Printed and sold ... by W. Davison, [ca. 1820]

Alternative Title:

History of reptiles, serpents, &c.
History of insects

Contributor:

Nicholson, Isaac, 1789-1848
Bewick, Thomas, 1753-1828.
Buffon, Georges Louis Leclerc, comte de, 1707-1788
Davison, William, 1780-1858, printer.

Publisher:

Printed and sold ... by W. Davison, [ca. 1820]

Notes:

"Thirty-five engravings on wood."
First sentence: "The land tortoise is found from one to five feet in length, from the end of the snout to the extremety of the tail; and from five to eighteen inches across the back."
One of 7 chapbooks issued by Davison as an abridgement of Buffon's "System of natural history," an itself abridged English translation of his "Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière": Davison, 1814; the chapbooks dated by Tattersfield "around 1819."
The woodcuts have been attributed to Thomas Bewick and his workshop by Hugo (in Bewick collector, p. 109-110); Tattersfield claims nothing in the chapbooks to be by Bewick (in Thomas Bewick, v. 2, p. 935) naming as the probable engraver Isaac Nicholson, a former Bewick apprentice.
Citations/References: Hugo, T. Bewick collector, 292
Citations/References: Osborne Coll., p. 209
Citations/References: Tattersfield, N. Thomas Bewick, v. 2, p. 934-935
Citations/References: Wood, C.A. Vertebrate zoology, p. 237
Copy in Bourke Coll.: one of 3 titles bound together, in a set of 3 volumes; from vol. 3, bound with: A natural history of fishes, and Day, a pastoral in three parts; binder's spine title: Fishes, Reptiles, Day, 1824. Bound together subsequent to publication. Bourke copy three-quarters bound; marbled paper boards. Date on spine of Blacker Wood copy: 1809. Copy in Bewick Coll.: full bound with gilt fillet border and corner tool, and gilt spine, turn-ins and edges (broken joint); the engravings hand-coloured. Bewick copy with: A natural history of foreign quadrupeds. Alnwick : Printed and sold ... by W. Davison, [ca. 1820]. Bound together subsequent to publication.

Physical Description:

text.chapbook.black and white, 14 cm.

Language:

English

Subject:

Zoology -- Pictorial works.
Reptiles -- Juvenile literature.
Insects -- Juvenile literature.
Natural history -- Juvenile literature.
Chapbooks -- Specimens.

Genre/Form:

Chapbooks -- England -- Alnwick -- 19th century

Chapbook Category:

Geographical Description, Local History and Natural History

Call Number:

PN970 D39 B49 1820 Rare Books/Special Collections - Sheila R. Bourke Collection

Digital Collection:

McGill Library's Chapbook Collection

Sponsor:

The McGill Library's Chapbook Collection was made possible through a generous donation from the Harold Crabtree Foundation.

All images licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/deed.en_US. For information, please contact Rare Books and Special Collections, McGill University Library.

Link to this chapbook:

http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/chapbooks/fullrecord.php?ID=8206

Chapbook Identifier:

PN970_D39_B49_1820_v_3_003529061