BROWN, Peter (fl.1758-1799, Artist), PENNANT, Thomas (1726-1798, Writer), BEVERE, Pieter Cornelis de (1733-1781, Artist)

New Illustrations of Zoology, Containing Fifty Coloured Plates of New, Curious, and Non-Descript Birds, with a Few Quadrupeds, Reptiles, and Insects. Together with a Short and Scientific Description of the Same: Nouvelles Illustrations de Zoologie, Contenant Cinquante Planches Enluminées d'Oiseaux Curieux, et Qui Non Étés Jamais Descrits, et Quelques de Quadrupèdes, de Reptiles et D'Insectes, Avec de Courtes Descriptions Systématiques

London: Printed for B[enjamin] White, at Horace's Head, Fleet-Street, 1776. 4to. (11 3/4 x 9 inches). First edition. [A4] B-S4. [8] 1-136. 144 pp. 50 finely hand-colored engraved plates printed recto, signed "P. Brown" or "Peter Brown" with dates in plates between January and May 1775. French Title, English Title, Dedications, Prefaces, Plates I-L each with a leaf of letterpress descriptive text in French and English, List of Plates.

Contemporary straight-grained green full morocco, gilt and blind paneled, six raised bands forming seven compartments on spine with gilt direct lettering in second and third compartments, gilt-ruled dentelles with foliate at corners, all edges gilt, brown endpapers

Handsome first edition with 50 finely hand-colored engraved plates. A brilliant bird book with global scope: Plate VII shows the blue-headed parrot taken by Joseph Banks from Australia to England aboard Captain Cook's Endeavour.

Brown's New Illustrations of Zoology, modeled on George Edwards's The Natural History of Uncommon Birds, was based on specimens from the natural history collections of the Royal Museum and the Royal Society; it also includes 20 plates after drawings by Ceylonese artist Pieter Cornelis de Bevere from the collection of John Gideon Loten, Dutch East India administrator in Ceylon. The British naturalist and antiquarian Thomas Pennant supported Brown in the making of this book, not just by providing him with specimens from his private collection, but also by writing much of the text. Pennant had previously employed Brown to make two of the plates in the former's British Zoology. The famous Rainbow Lorikeet, the first Australian bird to reach the shores of England, is seen here in Plate VII. Sir Joseph Banks, who sailed on Captain Cook's first voyage aboard the Endeavour, brought the blue-headed parrot home after the Tahitian priest it belonged to died en route. This engraving is the first published illustration of an Australian bird. The New Zealand Creeper depicted by Brown must also come from the Cook voyage. Brown's book illustrates and describes almost exclusively exotic species far afield from England; many were seldom seen prior to publication. Brown, thought to be Danish, was the court painter to the Prince of Wales. It is not certain if he studied as a pupil of Georg Ehret (1708-1770), the famous botanical artist from Germany, but he was most certainly influenced by his work. Brown exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1770 and 1791, and was, in addition to his zoological studies, an accomplished flower painter. Forty-two of the delicately colored plates in the Zoology depict birds; five depict mammals; two depict insects; and one is of a reptile. The birds and mammals come from places across the globe, ranging from South Carolina and Florida to Suriname, Brazil, Jamaica, and Angola, as well as Sri Lanka, Java, and the Falkland Islands.

Anker 72. Dance, The Art of Natural History, passim. ESTC T143948. Fine Bird Books, p.82. Mengel 388. Nissen IVB 151. Whittell, p.81. Wood, p.264. Zimmer, p.101.

Item #40444

Price: $9,500.00