[albin 
8 A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF 
Swainson 1 and the second from Engelmann, 2 were probably 
erroneous : 
(a) British Birds, a Natural History of. Illustrated with copperplates, 
curiously engraven from the life, by E. Albin, and coloured by 
his daughter and self. Bond. 1731-8. 3 vols. 4to. 306 coloured 
plates. 
(b) Natural History of British Birds ; Illustrated with (306) copper 
plates, curiously engraven from the life, and exactly coloured 
by his daughter and the author ; to which are added notes and 
observations by Will. Derham. 3 vols. (with 101, 104, and 101 
pi.) 4to. London (1731, ’34, ’38), 1738-40. 
The plates, drawn by the author and coloured by him (or 
rather “ by his daughter and self”) are stiff and unnatural 
figures, but are of value as forming the first published series 
of coloured plates of British birds, and have the merit, more- 
over, of having been drawn “ from the life.” 
*1731-38. A | Natural History | of Birds. | Illustrated | With a Hundred 
and One Copper Plates, | Curiously Engraven from the Life. | 
Published by the Author Eleazar Albin, | and carefully colour’d 
by his Daughter and Self, from | the Originals, drawn from the 
live Birds. | London : | ... mdccxxxi. 
Collation — 3 vols. 4to. Vol. I., with 101 pi. 1731. Yol. II., 
with 104 pi. 1734. Vol. III., with 101 pi. 1738. (Yol. 
number printed “II.” and altered to “ III.”) 
Sir Joseph Banks’s copy (Brit. Mus. 435 f. 4-6). 
This is the original issue, with the dates on which the 3 vols. 
appeared, and with the words “ colour’d by his Daughter and 
Self,” which were altered in the copies issued with 1738 titles (when 
the work was completed) to “ colour’d by the author.” These 1738 
copies bear Derham’s name on the title (perhaps to “ boom ” the 
work), but he does not appear to have edited the edition as generally 
supposed, his “ Notes and Observations ” being printed by Albin 
on a leaf at the end of Yol. I. Yol. III. also occurs with a 1740 title 
(in which it is termed “ Supplement ”) as below, the^title probably 
being reprinted owing to the error of number. The collation is the 
same as that of the issue below, except for leaf of Derham’s notes. 
Idem. A reissue in 1738, with fresh titles, and with leaf of 
Notes by Derham, as follows : 
1 Taxidermy, with the Biography of Zoologists and notices of their works, 
part ii. p. 105. ( Cabinet Cyclopaedia — Natural History.) London (Longman): 
1840. 1 vol. 12mo. 
2 Bibliotheca Historico - Naturalis, 1700-1846 (Erster Band), p. 401. Leipzig 
(W. Engelmann) : 1846. With continuation, Bibliotheca Zoologica, by Carus, 
Engelmann and Taschenberg. 
