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ONE OF THE RAREST AI^RICAN COLOR PLATE BOOKS 



Holbrook, John Edwards. Ichthyology of South Carolina. 2 leaves, 182 pp., 

 blank leaf. With 2? hand colored lithographic plates, hto. Contemp.half mo- 

 rocco. (Rebacked). 



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Charleston, S.C., John Russell, 1855^(1857?). 



$1,250.00 



A fine copy of the First Complete Edition - one of a few surviving copies. 

 The plates each bear pictures of two fishes, in striking natural colors, 

 along with small black and white figures of their scales, an invaluable holp 

 in identifying the various species. 



The publishing history of this work, extending as it does from I81i5 (?) to 

 i860, is quite complicated. Holbrook first planned a work entitled Southern 

 Ichthyology , which was to be issued in parts. Only one copy of the second 

 (and last) part issued is recorded as surviving (Crerar Library, Chicago), 

 and the LC Catalogue states that part 1 was never issued. In the preface to 

 ■ the present work, Holbrook states that two parts were issued, but, in any event, 

 publication was not completed. 



In l855j publication of the present work began, to be completed, as the au- 

 thor cjays, in "a year or 18 months". A few copies had been distributed when 

 a fire in Philadelphia destroyed both the original drawings and the stock of 

 completed plates. Holbrook had to make new drawings and reprint the work com- 

 pletely for publication in i860 (with one more plate than in the present edi- 

 tion), at which time he recalled all copies of the 1855 - (1857?) edition. 

 The LC Union Catalogue records only four copies of the latter (N.Y. State Li- 

 brary, Yale, Western Reserve, and Acad. Nat. Sciences, Philadelphia), and no 

 copy has appeared at auction in recent' years. Bennett describes only the 

 i860 edition, and seems never to have seen a copy of the 1855-(1857?) edition. 

 Nissen incorrectly states that the l855-(l857?) edition was without plates - 

 he probably had seen a stray copy which had been circulated after the plates 

 were destroyed. 



See illustration on back cover. 



Sabin 32[t52; see also Nissen, Schoene Fischbuecher , no. 

 Guide to American 19th Cent. Color Plate Books, p . 56 . 



77; Bennett, Practical 



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