Webber, Charles Wilkins (1819-1856) The Hunter-Naturalist.
Philadelphia: J. W. Bradley, 1851.
First edition of the first American book to include chromolithographs, tall octavo; illustrated with 10 color plates depicting hunting scenes (bibliographer Howes only calls for 9), 2 full-page black-and-white wood engravings, and numerous text illustrations & vignettes; bound in publisher's dark brown cloth, spine gilt-lettered (light foxing throughout, most severe at tissue-guards; rebacked preserving most of the original spine, endpapers renewed, rubbed); 10 x 6 3/4 in.
"My cherished object in this undertaking is, to introduce within the general scope of Polite Literature, a popular Natural History: upon the production of which I have so brought to bear the latest discoveries of Science, in the application of mechanical forces to pictorial illustration, as to cheapen all their cost without any deterioration of artistic value; and bring the essential spirit of what have been heretofore as sealed books, from their excessive costliness, within the reach of the People." (from the Introduction).
