Nov 12, 2013 - Sale 2330

Sale 2330 - Lot 311

Price Realized: $ 7,250
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 3,000 - $ 5,000
TOPSELL, EDWARD. The Historie of Foure-Footed Beastes. [42] (of [44]), 757, [13] (of [15]) pages; lacks initial and final blanks. bound with: The Historie of Serpents. Or, The second Booke of living Creatures. [10] (of [12]), 315, [7] (of [9]) pages; lacks initial blank and final index leaf. Together, 2 volumes in one, both profusely illustrated with woodcuts. Folio, 314x210 mm, 17th-century panelled calf gilt; marginal soiling and dampstaining through much of volume, scattered clean tears, camelopard's face cropped on page 101 in first work. Armorial bookplate of Nicholas Hamilton (d. 1915), Assistant Keeper of Manuscripts at the British Museum. London: William Jaggard, 1607; 1608

Additional Details

first editions of credulous compilations of animal lore by an English clergyman (d. 1625), with text and often ludicrous illustrations derived mainly from the 1551-87 Historiae animalium of Conrad Gesner. Dance, The Art of Natural History, pages 31-33; Garrison-Morton 280 note; Nissen ZBI 4146; STC 24124.