1761.] TO JOHN BARTRAM. 419 



GEORGE EDWARDS- TO WILLIAM BARTRAM. Jr. 



Dear Sir : 



It being upwards of two years since I had the pleasure of a 

 letter from you, I was willing to trouble you with a few lines, in 

 order to be informed whether or not you have received a parcel, 

 directed to you from me. It was the latter part of my works, 

 called Gleanings, containing 100 coloured prints, with their de- 

 scriptions in French and English. The book was very firmly 

 bound and gilt. It was papered up, and delivered to our good 

 friend, Mr. P. Collixsox, in the month of January, anno 1760, 

 in order to be sent with shop goods from him to Pennsylvania. It 

 was directed to you, not only on the paper in which it was packed, 

 but also withinside of the book ; I think it was on the back of the 

 title-page. I understood, by Mr. Collixsox, that the ship in 

 which it was sent arrived safe ; but he could not tell me whether 

 you had received the book or not. If you have not received it. 

 it must have been secreted by some person who has no right to it. 

 If you have seen or heard of a book answering the above descrip- 

 tion, it is certainly of right your property. 



I should be very sorry to think it is not come to your hands. I 

 shall be glad to hear of you and your father by the packet, or any 

 other convenient means, the first opportunity ; and if I find you 

 have not received the book in question, I will, by such means as 

 you shall direct, convey to you another copy of the same book in 

 black prints ; for if the first be miscarried, I cannot afford another 

 neatly coloured, as the first was. 



- George Edwards, the father of ornithologists, was born at Stratford, Essex, 

 in the year 1693. He was brought up to trade; but the great powers of his 

 genius began to be developed by the perusal of books on Natural History and 

 antiquities, and at the expiration of his apprenticeship he travelled abroad, 

 visited Holland, and, two years after, Norway. He corresponded much witli 

 Linx-Eus. The first of his learned and valuable labours appeared in the History 

 of Bird.", 4 vols. 4to., in the years 1743. 1747, 1750, and 1751; and in 1758, 

 1700, and 1764 three more 4to. volumes were added, called Gleanings of Natural 

 History, two most valuable works, containing engravings and descriptions of 

 upwards of six hundred subjects in Natural History, never before delineated. 

 This worthy man died 23d July, 1773, in the 81st year of his age. Blake's Biogr. 

 Diet., and Rees's Cyclop. 



