Sale 2473 - Printed & Manuscript Americana, April 12, 2018

241 c   (BARBADOS.) Hughes, Griffith. The Natural History of Barbados. Folding map, 30 plates, text illustrations. [16], vii, [1], 314, [20] pages. Folio, contemporary calf, tastefully rebacked, minor wear; the map with a long repaired closed tear and laid down on heavy paper, apparently supplied, small repaired chip to title page, moderate foxing and offsetting; additional errata slip pasted to page facing 1; original subscriber’s gilt arms on boards and bookplate on verso of title page, early catalogue description pasted to front pastedown. London, 1750 [3,000/4,000] first edition . A handsome large-paper copy of an important book, compiled by the rector of St. Lucy’s Parish. Half of the ten sections and the bulk of the plates are devoted to the flora of Barbados, with additional sections on climate, minerals, animals, and marine life. A few pages discuss evidence of the early Indian inhabitants. Each of the plates is inscribed with the arms of a different sponsor. “This book is one to place beside Catesby’s Natural History”—Hunt Botanical 536. “Handsomely printed, and the plates are finely executed from drawings by Ehret”—Sabin 33582. European Americana 750/168; Hough, Lesser Antilles 206. Provenance: original subscriber John Stuart, Earl of Bute (1713-1792), an amateur botanist who who served as Prime Minister in 1762; Sotheby’s London sale, 7 December 1976, lot 294, to Jenkins.

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