[LIFE SCIENCES / NATURAL HISTORY] GODMAN, John D.

American Natural History. Part I: Mastology [in three volumes; all published]

Philadelphia: Stoddart and Atherton, 1831. Second edition. Three octavo volumes (22cm). Contemporary marbled calf with leather spine labels; engraved extra-title present in each volume; xvi,[7]-362;330;264pp; engraved frontispiece (v.1) and 48 inserted leaves of plates; text illus. Faint scattered foxing to text, but plates generally clean; bindings exhibit moderate external aging and wear, with small losses to leather at spine ends and corners. A complete, structurally sound, Good or better set. Early ownership signature of a Benj. Webb Jr. on endpaper and extra-title of v.1.

A quite presentable set of Godman's treatise on the mammals of North America, including some ethnographic notes on Native Americans and a lengthy discussion of the fossil record, with special attention given to the Giant Mastodon. Much of the third volume is devoted to a description of the American whale fishery. Godman (1794-1830) was trained as a physician and was for some time the director of the Philadelphia Anatomical Rooms, a private medical college, where he achieved considerable renown as an anatomist. American Natural History, described as "the first systematic treatise on the subject" [DAB] was first published in Philadelphia from 1826-1828; two "Second Editions" appeared in 1831, this one under the Stoddart & Atherton imprint and another by Key & Mielkie. Sabin and Imprints [Bruntjen & Bruntjen) note only the latter, but OCLC records suggest that the two editions are collected with equivalent frequency. Neither Sabin nor Imprints supply a plate count for the Second Edition, but our copy conforms to that at the Smithsonian Institution, the only OCLC member institution to provide a collation. SABIN 27663. B&B 7271.

Price: $300.00

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