Coloured Figures of the Birds of the British Islands.
THOMAS L. POWYS LILFORD (FOURTH BARON)
London: R. H. Porter, 1885-1897. 4to. I-VII. Red half morocco, richly gilt, bound by John Bumpus, Oxford Street. Top edges gilt, else untrimmed. Complete with 421 plates, with tissue guards.
First edition, corresponds with dates to all front wrappers [I-XXXVI] bound at end of each volume.
Spines, spine ends included, in fine condition! Some bumping to corners and light wear to extremities. Index and wrappers at end of vol 8 with clean marginal tear (see photo), no loss. Else a very attractive, tight and clean set!
BINDING: Bumpus enjoyed a reputation for handsome bindings in classical styles from its foundation in 1780 until the 20th century. In fact the ‘bindery’ never produced a single binding, instead outsourcing to the likes of Rivière, and Sangorski & Sutcliffe, a masterpiece of delegation. (Source: Bernard Quaritch, ”Bindings and Illustrated Books”, 2014.)
Most of the plates are by Thorburn and Keulemans; a few are by G. E. Lodge and W. Foster. The first edition was begun in Oct. 1885 and issued in parts. The second edition, also in parts, commenced in April 1891 (at the time Pt. XVIII, first ed., appeared) and overtook the first edition in Sept. 1894 with the issue of Pt. XXVIII, after which the same parts of both editions appeared simultaneously until completion of the work. Zimmer, p. 399-400.