James Bolton | Harmonia ruralis... on British song birds, London, 1845, half morocco

James Bolton

Harmonia ruralis; or, an essay towards a natural history of British song birds... A new edition, revised and augmented. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1845

2 volumes in one, 4to (298 x 227mm.), hand-coloured engraved frontispiece and 80 hand-coloured engraved plates, nineteenth-century green half morocco, gilt edges, occasional spotting, binding slightly rubbed, upper hinge broken

First published in 1794-1796 and reprinted in 1830 and 1845, as here. The plates depicting the birds and their nests were drawn from life.

LITERATURE:

Fine Bird Books, p. 60; Nissen IVB 115

PROVENANCE:

Robert Newman Milford (1819-1913) from the Bishop of Winchester (i.e. Charles Sumner, his father-in-law), 8 February 1859, inscription on flyleaf (Milford was rector of Brightwell and chaplain to the Bishop)