Smith, Sir Andrew. Illustrations of the Zoology of South Africa.
Ltd. Ed. Fac. Pub. Winchester Press, Johannesburg. 1977 Three volume set with 281 fine colour and b/w. plates (two numbered 8 in Vol. I as published). Large 4to. Hardbacks. Fore-edges of text block showing some spotting, o/w. contents fine. Bound in original full leather with gilt lettering and decoration in nr. fine condition. A limited edition of just 350 sets, this being No.69.
"This handsome and valuable work gives full particulars of the natural history subjects of South Africa, collected by Dr. Andrew Smith's expedition" (Mendelssohn), which explored... parts of Cape Colony, Natal and "Kaffirland". The plates, "of a very high order", were mostly executed by George Ford "from specimens either living or recently dead" (Preface).
£500.00 [ref: 58170]

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Smith, Sir J.E. and Sowerby, James. English Botany; or, Coloured figures of British Plants with their essential characters, synonyms, and places of growth.
2nd. Ed. Pub. for C.E. Sowerby. [1832]-1846 Twelve volume set with 2,754 fine hand coloured copper engraved plates. Each vol. with seperate Latin and English plant names as published. 8vo. Hardback. Contents very clean with only very occ. quite minor spotting, a little more so to the text sections of two vols. Contemporary cloth binding, internally very sound, externally showing rubbing and some wear, more so to five of the twelve vols.
A magnificent work. ‘“English Botany” is of value even to the present day as a work of reference, and as an illustrated flora of our country it has never been surpassed.’ (Henrey).
£1,400.00 [ref: 66447]

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Smith, William. Observations on the Utility, Form and Management of Water Meadows and the Draining and Irrigating of Peat Bogs, with an account of Prisley Bog and other extraordinary improvements conducted for His Grace The Duke of Bedford, Thomas William Coke, Esq. M.P. and others.
1st. Ed. Pub. Norwich, Printed by R.M. Bacon. 1806 pp. fold-out plate, [iv], xviii, [19]-121, [iii] with one further fold-out plate plus vignettes to text. 8vo. Hardback. Some off-setting to plates, occ. minor spotting, o/w. contents fine. Sympathetically bound in modern buckram preserving original spine label.
William Smith (1769-1839) was known as ‘the Father of English Geology’ and famous for producing the first geological map of Britain (1815). The charming plates illustrate the plans of watermeadows made out of a bog on Prisley Farm.
£850.00 [ref: 66024]

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Sowerby, J.E. & Johnson, C. Pierpoint. British Wild Flowers. To which is added a supplement containing 180 figures of lately discovered flowering plants.
Pub. Gurney & Jackson. 1914 pp.lii, 186 with hand-coloured frontis., with 89 hand-coloured plates illustrating 1,780 figures plus 2 b/w. plates. Small 4to. Hardback. AEG. Neat, period inscription. Contents exceptionally clean and in nr. fine condition. Original gilt lettered and decorated boards in nr. fine condition. A very pleasing copy.
Includes ferns, horsetails and club mosses. First published in 1858, ‘British Wild Flowers’ proved to be a popular title and this edition is enlarged from the original with additional material in the supplement of flowering plants and the appendix of ferns and fern-allies.
£175.00 [ref: 60896]

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Sowerby, J.E. & Johnson, C. Pierpoint. British Wild Flowers. To which is added a supplement containing 180 figures of lately discovered flowering plants.
Pub. Gurney & Jackson. 1914 pp.lii, 186 with hand-coloured frontis., with 89 hand-coloured plates illustrating 1,780 figures plus 2 b/w. plates. Small 4to. Hardback. AEG. Contents exceptionally clean and in fine condition. Original gilt lettered and decorated boards in fine condition a trifle rubbed to extremities. A superb copy.
Includes ferns, horsetails and club mosses. First published in 1858, ‘British Wild Flowers’ proved to be a popular title and this edition is enlarged from the original with additional material in the supplement of flowering plants and the appendix of ferns and fern-allies.
£195.00 [ref: 68228]

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Sowerby, J.E. and Smith, J.E. (Boswell, J.T. (Ed.)). English Botany; Or, coloured figures of British Plants.
3rd. Enl. Ed. Pub. George Bell & Sons. 1877-1886 Twelve volume set with 1938 hand-coloured plates. Collated and complete. Small 4to. Hardback. Ex-lib. TEG. Neat repair to blank margin of two text leaves, very minor spotting, o/w. contents very clean and nr. fine. Contemporary half morocco over green cloth with gilt lettering and decoration to spines. More recent end-papers and internal hinges neatly strengthened. Bindings showing some rubbing and shelf wear, still very sound and vg. to thor. vg.
£1,750.00 [ref: 63162]

Speechly, William. A Treatise on the Culture of the Pineapple and the Management of the Hot-House. Together with a description of every species of Insect that infest Hot-Houses, with effectual methods of destroying them.
1st. Ed. Pub. A. Ward for the Author. 1779 pp.xviii, 186 with two fold-out plates. 8vo. Very minor amount of spotting, two neat repairs to one fold-out plate o/w. contents fine. Recent, handsome, half-calf leather binding over marbled boards with gilt lettering and blind decoration to spine, very gently sunned to spine o/w. in fine condition. A most pleasing copy of the more scarce first edition.
Blanche-Henrey said of this book (and Speechly’s ‘A Treatise on the Culture of the Vine’) that ‘These works by Speechly were the most important on the culture of the pineapple and the vine published during the eighteenth century, and it may be said that they laid the foundations for improvements which followed.’. The plates illustrate insect pests and a plan for a stove greenhouse - each plate has its own explanatory leaf.
£350.00 [ref: 68549]

Speke, J.H. and Grant, J.A. The Botany of the Speke and Grant Expedition. An Enumeration of the Plants collected during the Journey of the late Captain J.H. Speke and Captain (now Lieut.-Col.) J.A. Grant from Zanzibar to Egypt.
Pub. Trans. of the Linnean Society. [c.1872] pp.190 with fold-out colour map (by W. and A.K. Johnston, London) and 136 b/w. lithograph plates by and after W.H. Fitch. 4to. Hardback. Only the very occ. marginal spot, o/w. contents fine. Marbled endpapers. More recent, handsome, full green morocco leather binding with raised bands in nr. fine condition. Housed in purpose made green cloth solander box in nr. fine condition.
When appointed to accompany Speke to the sources of the Nile, Grant thought that ‘many a pleasant hour might be spent in collecting plants and seeds while traversing the country to be explored. He purchased drying paper and note books to allow him to do so and in the introduction to this work he commented that upon their return, the plants were very well received by Kew. The map illustrates the route of their expedition from Zanzibar to Egypt.
£375.00 [ref: 66437]

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Stainton, H.T. (et al). The Natural History of the Tineina. Volumes I to XIII.
1st. Ed. Pub. John van Voorst. 1855-1873 Thirteen volume set with 104 hand-coloured plates. 8vo. Hardbacks. Bookplate to Vol. 1. Some darkening and / or spotting to end-papers and the occ. title page. Some sections uncut. Elsewhere only minor spotting or marginal darkening, o/w. contents fine. Publisher’s blue cloth, lettered in gilt to spine and blind rules to boards, nr. fine to fine. A very pleasing set indeed.
‘Distinguished for its beautiful hand-coloured plates of larvae, many of them drawn by [William] Buckler. The text is uniquely in four languages, English, French, German and Latin - Stainton was fluent in all of them - arranged in parallet columns’ (Salmon).
£1,100.00 [ref: 63627]

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Stephens, James Francis. Illustrations of British Entomology; or a Synopsis of Indigenous Insects. Mandibulata Vol. I to VII [with] Haustellata Vol. I to IV [with] Supplement.
1st. Ed. Pub. Baldwin and Craddock / Henry G. Bohn. 1828-1846 Twelve vols. bound in five with 95 fine hand-coloured, copper engraved, plates. Royal 8vo. Hardback. All title pages and indexes present. Neat repair to three leaves, only very minor spotting o/w. contents fine. More recent quarter calf over marbled boards with gilt lettering and raised bands in most pleasing nr. fine condition.
With fine hand-coloured plates by C.M. Curtis and J.O. Westwood. Stephens (1792-1852) was an English entomologist, naturalist and fellow of the Linnaen Society. ‘While at the University of Cambridge, the student Charles Darwin became an enthusiastic insect collector. He sent Stephens records of the rarer insects he had captured, and was delighted when ‘Illustrations of British Entomology’ gave him credit for capturing insects described in 33 entries, quoting his words in all but two of the cases. Darwin recalled in his autobiography ‘No poet ever felt more delight at seeing his first poem published than I did at seeing in Stephen's Illustrations of British Insects the magic words, 'captured by C. Darwin, Esq.’’
£1,675.00 [ref: 66527]