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. 1902 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. Internal hinges reinforced. Small surface marking to plate no. 38 and to text opposite o/w. contents fine. Original gilt lettered and decorated boards with spine relaid, showing some rubbing to extremities o/w. fine.
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.
£100.00 [ref: 71423]

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]

Sterland, W.J. and Whitaker, Joseph. Descriptive List of the Birds of Nottinghamshire.
1st. Ed. Pub.William Gouk. 1879 pp.71 plus 1-leaf of adverts of works by W.J. Sterland. 8vo. Hardback. Cords gently stretched, a few spots, o/w. contents fine. Neat ownership stamp of Howard Smith. Original decorated blue cloth boards in thor. vg. / nr. fine condition. Scarce.
£225.00 [ref: 60433]

Stonham, Charles. The Birds of the British Islands.
1st. Ed. Pub. E. Grant Richards. 1906-1911 Five volume set with 318 fine engraved plates, two colour fold-out maps and two full-page anatomical woodcuts printed in red and black. With 9-page list of subscribers to rear of Vol. V. Large 4to. Hardback. TEG. Ex-Bolton. Lib. Overall contents exceptionally clean and nr. fine. Original quarter vellum over blue boards with gilt lettering - short split to top of spine of Vol. III, o/w. in vg. condition.
Originally issued in 20 parts and finely illustrated by Lilian M. Medland.
£275.00 [ref: 66570]

Sweet, Robert. Cistineae. The Natural Order of Cistus of Rock-Rose; Illustrated by coloured figures and descriptions of the Distinct Species, and the most Prominent Varieties, that could be at present procured in the Gardens of Great Britain; with the best direction for their cultivation and propagation.
Pub. James Ridgway. 1825-30 pp.xx, with 112 fine hand-coloured, copper engravings and supporting pages of text. Royal 8vo. Very minor amount of scattered foxing and light offsetting, o/w. contents in fine condition. Marbled fore-edges and end-papers. Sewn headbands. Handsome half-morocco leather binding with raised bands, lettered and decorated in gilt to spine, all in near fine condition.
Robert Sweet (1783-1835) was a highly respected horticulturist, nurseryman and author. In 1812 he joined Colvills, the famous Chelsea nursery. Subsequently, he was elected a fellow of the Linnean Society and he published a number of very practical, beautifully illustrated works on British garden plants. The impressive plates comprised in ‘Cistineae’ are by J. Hart, M. Hart, W. Hart and Mrs Brown, engraved by S. Watts and Weddell, (Great Flower Books 1700 - 1900).
£1,500.00 [ref: 44354]

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Switzer, Stephen. The Nobleman, Gentleman and Gardener’s Recreation: Or, an introduction to Gardening, Planting, Agriculture, and the other business and pleasures of a Country life.
1st. Ed. Pub. B. Barker and C. King. 1715 pp.[viii], xxxiv, 266, [16] with engraved frontis. 8vo. Hardback. From the library of internationally renowned, English garden designer, Rosemary Verey (1918-2001), with her bookplate to the front paste-down. Two small holes to p.xxxi, with missing letters supplied in early hand, o/w. contents in fine condition. Very handsomely bound in original full calf-leather, decorated Cambridge panel binding, lightly marked in places. Acceptable wear at spine ends, to external hinges and the corners of the boards; the binding is still very firm and overall in vg. condition. Scarce. Was £1,750.00.
This was eminent garden designer Stephen Switzer’s first published work. He dedicated the book to the Marquess of Lindsey, for whom it is thought that Switzer designed the gardens at Grimsthorpe Castle, near Bourne in Lincolnshire (Blanche Henry). It contains the first lengthy historical review of the development of gardening in England.
£1,575.00 [ref: 47610]