Lot 442: EYTON, Thomas Campbell (1809-1880). A Monograph on the Anatidae, or Duck Tribe . London: Longman, Orme, Brown, Green, & Longman, and Eddowes, 1838.

EYTON, Thomas Campbell (1809-1880). A Monograph on the Anatidae, or Duck Tribe. London: Longman, Orme, Brown, Green, & Longman, and Eddowes, 1838.

4υo (278 x 216 mm). 6 hand-colored lithographed plates by Eyton after Edward Lear, 18 anatomical plates by Scharf after Eyton and Scharf. (Some spotting, first few leaves browned and a little soiled.) 19th-century green cloth (some minor buckling). Provenance: H. Bradley Martin (bookplate; his sale Sotheby's New York, 7 June 1989, lot 91).

FIRST EDITION. Eyton was an avid naturalist who turned his considerable facility for observation, dissection, and draughtsmanship, towards the study of birds. He knew and corresponded with many noted scientific thinkers of the time, and was friends with many famous naturalists including Darwin, Agassiz, Wallace, Asa Gray, and Owen. He possessed an impressive collection of birds and skeletons, which he formed in a museum he had built expressly for the purpose at Eyton, the family estate. The plates after Edward Lear are amongst the least well known of his work. Nissen IVB 307.

THE PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE COLLECTOR

THE PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE COLLECTOR