Sims Reed Rare Books×

Oriental Field Sports; Being a Complete, Detailed, and Accurate Description of the Wild Sports of the East ... the Whole Taken from the Manuscript and Designs of Captain Thomas Williamson ... &c

Howitt, Samuel. Williamson, Captain Thomas

London. Printed by William Bulmer and Co. ... for Edward Orme. 1807
First edition, an early issue bound from the parts, with two of the original part wrappers.

Issued originally in a series of 20 parts, Oriental Field Sports (or Wild Sports of the East as the illustrated wrappers and title have it), features illustration by Samuel Howitt after Captain Williamson's original drawings to illustrate WIlliamson's own text. The copy offered here, with two original part wrappers tipped to the front and rear pastedowns, has been bound from the original parts as demonstrated by the 1804 watermarks on all text leaves and plates (save for one leaf of the index with an 1805 watermark) as well as the uncorrected title for plate XXXI ('Hunting Jackalls' - cf. Tooley ' ... this must be the first issue of the plate. It is rare.'). The 20 parts for subscribers were issued monthly between June 1805 and January 1807.

Williamson's text treats of all aspects of hunting in India and, together with Howitt's fine plates, provides a detailed survey of the subject, from the hunting of tiger, jackal, wild dog, deer, wild boar, leopard and so on, to the trapping of elephant and the ferocity (exaggerated presumably) of the rhinoceros and his particular antipathy to the elephant. A further edition in the same format was published in 1808 (described by Tooley as 'greatly inferior') as well as various editions in octavo and quarto.

'The most beautiful book on Indian sport in existence ... '. (Schwerdt).

'The book is not only a mine of information as to the manners, customs, scenery, and costume of India, but contains one of the finest series of sporting plates ever published.' (Martin Hardie, English Coloured Books, 1906).

[Schwerdt II, 298; Abbey Travel 427; Tooley 508; Hardie, pp. 135 - 136, 302 - 303; Brunet V, 1456].
pp. ii, 150, (i, list of plates). Oblong folio. (470 x 595 mm). Illustrative colour title (stencil-coloured) with text 'Wild Sports of the East', printed title, leaf with Orme's dedication to George III, leaf with Williamson's 'Preface' (pp. ii), descriptive text for each plate (pp. 1 - 146), index (pp. 147 - 150), leaf with list of plates in English and French printed recto only and forty colour aquatint plates by Howitt after Williamson (all by H. Merke, save 31, soft-ground etching with aquatint, by Viveres and 27 and 34, stipple engravings with aquatint by J. Hamble). Sheet size: 458 x 572 mm. Plates with the watermarks: 'J WHATMAN / 1804' or 'E & P / 1804'; text with watermarks: 'E & P / 1804' or 'HALL & TATLIN 1804'; first leaf of index with watermark: 'E & P / 1802', second with: 'RUSE & TURNERS / 1805'. Scarlet half-morocco by Rivière & Son, with their discreet stamp to front free endpaper verso, red cloth-covered boards with red morocco label with gilt title mounted to front board, banded spine with title gilt in six compartments, original blue stencil-coloured part wrappers for livraisons 9 and 10 mounted to front and rear pastedowns, marbled endpapers, a.e.g.
#40792

Other Items

Authentic Memoirs of the late George...
This beautiful and rare collection of prints after the work of George Morland was collected by Francis Blagdon and published by Edward Orme.
£8,500
Morland, George. Blagdon, William FrancisAuthentic Memoirs of the...1806
Nine Original 'Cuivres' for Les Fleurs...
A collection of original etching plates for the first edition of Grandville's Les Fleurs Animées.
£35,000
Grandville, (Jean-Ignace-Everard Gérard)Nine Original 'Cuivres' for...1847
The Betrothed Lovers; A Milanese Tale...
The very rare first edition in English of Alessandro Manzoni's masterpiece of Italian literature 'I Promessi Sposi'.
£9,500
Manzoni, AlessandroThe Betrothed Lovers; A...1828
A Complete Body of Architecture. Adorned...
The first edition of Isaac Ware's practical and comprehensive manual of architecture.
£7,500
Ware, IsaacA Complete Body of...1756
An accidence, or Gamut, of Painting...
'It was at the suggestion of Lady Balcarres that the painter undertook the new role of author-instructor.
£1,250
Ibbetson, J[ulius].-C[aesar]An accidence, or Gamut,...1828
Londres. Illustré de 174 gravures sur...
A very scarce deluxe example of Louis Enault's 'Londres' illustrated by Gustave Doré printed on Chine and with a signed original drawing.
£15,000
Doré, Gustave. Enault, LouisLondres. Illustré de 174...1876
Epistolae et Evangelia Ad Usum Congregationis...
A splendid French edition of the 'Epistolae et Evangelia' in a beautiful contemporary binding of red morocco à la dentelle likely by Padeloup.
£12,500
Epistolae Et EvangeliaEpistolae et Evangelia Ad...1708
Un Autre Monde: Transformations, visions, incarnations,...
Grandville's finest book and magnum opus, an extraordinary imaginative tour de force in a highly unusual variant of the publisher's binding.
£22,500
Grandville, (Jean-Ignace-Everard Gérard).. Delord, TaxileUn Autre Monde: Transformations,...1844
Remarks on Rifle Guns Being the...
A very good copy of Baker's work on rifles with the plates with fine colouring by hand.
£3,500
Baker, EzekielRemarks on Rifle Guns...1823
Le Vite de' piu eccellenti Pittori,...
The second edition of Vasari's famous 'Vite' but the first complete edition with much new material and the first to be illustrated.
£55,000
Vasari, GiorgioLe Vite de' piu...1568