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Todas las subastas / Libros, mapas, papel & manuscritos / William Houghton and illustrated by Alexander Francis...
1879 FIRST EDITION – NATURAL HISTORY, FRESHWATER FISH, FISHING, NATURE, COOKING, SCIENCE, ANATOMY by Rev. William Houghton (1828–1895), was a English clergyman, naturalist, author and Fellow of the Linnean Society. He paired scientific examination of British Museum specimens with an avid angler’s keen field observations. TWO BOOKS IN ONE VOLUME AND COMPLETE FIRST EDITION, with 41 coloured full-page illustrations height 390 x width 310 mm (15.4 by 12.2 inches), and 64 black and white illustrations, this first edition is distinguished by its large dimensions, whereas in the second edition the size is reduced by half and the print quality is lower. All the illustrations are in excellent condition—as shown in the photos—and are extremely detailed, featuring beautiful colors and remarkable rendering of the fish's characteristics and details, such as eyes, scales, and fins. This is the most important and comprehensive monograph on this branch of natural history, in which various species of Salmonids—along with salmon, trout, pike, carp, tench, whitefish, sturgeon, minnow, dace, bream, char, chub, grayling, loach, barbel, burbot, stickleback, mudminnows, eels, lamprey and others—are illustrated for the first time. The illustrations are by Alexander Francis Lydon (1836–1917), a celebrated natural history illustrator who drew the subjects directly from nature, capturing fresh specimens before their vivid colours faded. Benjamin Fawcett (1808–1893) was the master colour wood-engraver who translated Lydon’s watercolours into print with extraordinary technical virtuosity. In addition to the superb artistic execution, there is also in-depth research into the characteristics of the fish—anatomy, habitat, classification, habits, and fishing techniques—with 2–5 pages of information on the species accompanying each illustration. William Houghton successfully bridged rigorous Linnaean taxonomy with practical sporting lore, detailing feeding, spawning, and regional distribution alongside tackle advice, bait selection, and culinary notes. Antique binding from the early 1900s, in excellent condition as shown in the photos. TWO BOOKS IN ONE VOLUME AND COMPLETE FIRST EDITION, all plates are in impeccable condition, virtually free of defects, with rare spots on the white margins outside the illustrations; each illustration comes with its own original protective tissue guard. The production of "British Fresh-Water Fishes" represents one of the final triumphs of high-Victorian colour relief printing before photographic half-tone engraving rendered hand-cut xylography obsolete. The printing of the plates was executed by Benjamin Fawcett at his workshop, he was a pioneer of chromatic wood-engraving, rejecting the quick commercial lithography of his day in favor of laborious multi-block relief printing. For each of the 41 plates, Lydon painted an exact watercolour from a freshly caught specimen. Fawcett transferred the design onto Turkish boxwood blocks cut across the grain. Between six and eight separate blocks were hand-carved for each illustration—one for each distinct pigment, tint, and shade. Many artists of the era (such as John Gould or Édouard Traviès) used to apply gum arabic to their illustrations to make feathers, eyes, and other details gleam, but Fawcett formulated his own oil-based inks using fine dry pigments ground with boiled linseed oil to prevent fading. To replicate the wet, iridescent sheen of living fish scales, a final translucent gloss varnish block was impressed over the colored image. TITLE: A History of British Freshwater Fishes AUTHORS: Rev. William Houghton (1828–1895), illustrations are by Alexander Francis Lydon (1836–1917), Benjamin Fawcett (1808–1893) was the master colour wood-engraver PUBLISHER: William Mackenzie, printed in London, text in English DATE: no date, but 1879, only the first edition was printed in large format DESCRIPTION: In folio or imperial quarto size, height 390 x width 310 mm (15.4 by 12.2 inches). Two books in one volumes, first part XXVI + 92 pages, second part 93-204 pages, the book contains 41 coloured full-page illustrations; height 390 x width 310 mm (15.4 by 12.2 inches), and 64 black and white illustrations, COMPLETE WORK. Antique cloth binding from the early 1900s, two-tone (salmon and olive green); free of any cuts, splits, or damage, showing only minor signs of use; gilt lettering on the spine; the binding is intact and in excellent condition, as shown in the photos. Title with red and black characters, text and illustrations are clean, intact and well engraved, rare small stains or defects, all in very good overall condition. COMPLETE FIRST EDITION. REFERENCES/LITERATURE; Freeman, 1782; Nissen I, p.208; Buchanan (Nature into Art), 168; Nissen ZBI 2009 and Nissen Fischbücher 78; Dean I/605 (with different collation); The Illustrator and the Book in England from 1790 to 1914. Gordon Norton Ray, Courier Dover Publications, 1992, p. 65. SHIPPING: via UPS, DHL, National Postal Services, protected, INSURED and fully tracked package. Estimated time for Europe 3-5 working days. Shipping within one working day, you can combine shipping if you purchases several items from us, saving money and time.
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