Pl. 2.55 Corn Snake. The Natural History of Carolina...London: 1771. $750.00

"Corn Snake with Bahama Orchid"

Mark Catesby was an English botanist who spent a total of ten years traveling around the east coast of the United States and the Bahamas collecting specimens and making drawings that were to become the first natural history of America.  His wildly diversified natural history contains plants, birds, insects, snakes, small mammals (and a bison!), fish and mollusks.  Catesby supported himself as a nurseryman while he labored for ten years organizing his specimens, drawing and engraving and sometimes hand coloring his work.  Finally, in 1731, Catesby published the first volume of The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands. It contains 100 images of birds. He published a second volume containing animals, fish, shells, insects, snakes, etc. in 1743. The work remained unsurpassed as a reference for many years. It continued to be so useful, that a second edition was published in 1754. It contained an appendix of 20 engraved plates. The series was so popular that the demand continued and a third edition was published in 1771. Catesby's images are imaginatively and boldly figured in a straightforward style which calls folk art to the mind of the modern viewer.

14 x 20 1/2 inches, inches, sheet.
18 1/2 x 20 1/2 , framed size overall.                                       
Hand colored copperplate engraving.
Excellent restored condition.