9 parts in 5 volumes, folio (439 x 275 mm). 473 etched plates with hand-coloring by Seligmann after Edwards and Catesby. (Some very slight spotting to a few plates.) CONTEMPORARY RED VELLUM-BACKED BOARDS GILT, decorative paper on sides, red vellum corners, spines in 8 compartments with 7 raised bands, gilt-lettered in two, the rest with a central gilt flower (some overall rubbing and wear).

A FINE UNCUT COPY OF THE FIRST DUTCH EDITION, which includes approximately 50 more plates than the earlier German and French editions. The plates are from Huth's German edition of Edwards's Natural History of Uncommon Birds and Gleanings of Natural History (see Lot 226), and the work incorporates material from Catesby's Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands. "The plates of Edwards and Seligman were re-engraved by Seligmann and some of those by Edwards further embellished by the addition of figures and plants not in the originals... The text appears to follow Edwards and Catesby closely, with the addition of descriptions of the new botanical subjects" (Ayer/Zimmer 200). The list of subscribers in the first volume includes a list of 90 subscribers, suggesting that likely fewer than 150 copies were printed. See Anker 462; Fine Bird Books, p.73-73; Great Flower Books 93; Nissen IVB 859; Wood 330.