Zoological Works: Plates Illustrative of Natural History, 115 Hand-colored, wood-engraved plates, with explanatory text beneath

London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. Very Good with no dust jacket. 1843. Hardcover. Josiah Wood Whymper (1813 - 1903) was a British wood-engraver, book illustrator and watercolourist. His wood-engraving enterprise became one of London's most successful. He also later became well-known for his watercolor paintings and was drawn to painting pastoral landscapes and riverscapes which are now highly collectible and valued. Whymper illustrated a number of publications for the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge in London, including the portfolio of engravings in this collection which are said to be some of his best. While these engravings are undated, the Victoria and Albert Museum attributes an 1843 publication date to them, however, they seem to have been published over a period of 22 years: from 1843 - 1865. Each illustration consists of explanatory text beneath the image in letterpress, and the image itself was produced by wood engraving. They were originally issued as either uncolored, or colored prints (original "Price 3/4d Plain; 2d Coloured"). This collection comprises hand-coloured prints. Each print has a small number at the bottom beginning with number 1 and ending with 142. It appears that 27 are not present in the consecutive numbering bound in this volume. A total of 210 were originally issued and included mammals, birds, and fish.. Nevertheless, this is a substantial collection of one of Whymper's most important natural history portfolios, and one of the largest collections offered in some time. The sheets are all of a uniform size. The covers are black cloth with leather spine tips; the leather spine is deteriorated and the covers are now detached from the binding. The leather spine title is "Zoological Works," and it is still legible. About a dozen plates have marginal tears ranging from 2" to 3". The first plate (the Bat), has a long vertical tear affecting the image. Some plates are dirty from handling, especially at the margins, and some have an occasional bit of spotting. Some plates also have smaller marginal tears which do not affect the main image or the text beneath. The coloring of the images is clear and bright, and in many cases seems to have an almost irridescent quality which is quite striking. Please inquire if you would like more information about this book!; Hand-Colored Engravings; 13 3/8" x 10 3/4"; 114 pages; Missing Numbers in the Series (Unknown which animals correspond to these numbers): 15, 16, 25, 34, 41, 47, 48, 68, 69, 70, 75, 77, 80, 83, 89, 91, 95, 105, 113, 114, 115, 116, 118, 124, 126, 134, 136. This is a total of 27 missing numbers. There appear to be 142 numbers in the series, so subtracting the 27 missing numbers in this book, means that there are 115 total present--this is confirmed by hand-counting the plates. .