The Birds of Cornwall and the Scilly Islands.

Fine illustrated and antiquarian Ornithology . 1st. Ed. Pub. Trubner & Co., Ludgate Hill. 1880. pp.lvi, 320 with portrait frontis. and fold-out map. 8vo. Hardback. Repairs to map, contents nr fine. Rear internal hinge a little tender. Original decorated brown cloth boards with gilt lettered spine nr. fine. Harting’s own copy with his bookplate to front pastedown and ‘Editor’s Copy, 12th July 1880’ handwritten to half-title. With Trubner’s very scarce 4-page pre-publication advert which provided background information to the work and a subscription form for interested buyers - Trubner stated that the work would not be published unless 250 copies were subscribed for. Furthermore, Harting corrected the advert, completed the subscription form (adding his address and dating it) and wrote that Trubner had informed him that more than 400 copies were taken up in the County of Cornwall and that the success of the book exceeded Trubner’s expectations. A wonderful copy and archive. The first dedicated avifauna of the county, edited by Harting after the author's death. This copy contains Harting’s copious (meticulous) notes, annotations and clippings from newspapers and journals. For example, he has indicated the locations of Nightingale sightings on the map. Comes with 25 handwritten letters. Contains a wonderful drawing and description of a ‘Nuthatches nest’ in Harting’s hand. Also with a duplicate copy of the Appendix, pages 279 to 303 and pages 313 to 316.