Hughes' Natural History of Barbados

First Edition of Hughes' The Natural History of Barbados - ”THIS BOOK IS ONE TO PLACE BESIDE CATESBY’S NATURAL HISTORY” (Hunt) HUGHES, Griffith (1707?-after 1750). The Natural History of Barbados. London: for the author, 1750. First edition, large-paper issue. Here is what AI says it’s worth: $16,380. Cost: Purchased Privately for $15,000. Folio (13 11/16” x 9 1/8”, 349mm x 232mm): p2 A2 a2 2a-c2 B-Cc2 *Dd1 Dd-Rrr2 *Sss2 Sss-Mmmm2 c2 Nnnn-Oooo2[$1 signed]. 181 leaves, pp. [4] (title, blank, dedication, blank) i ii-vii [13] (errata, 10pp. subscribers, 2pp. contents), 1 2-250 *251-*254 251-314, [20] (7pp. notes, blank, 4pp. addenda, 7pp. index, blank). With an engraved folding map of Barbados and 30 engraved plates. Bound in later speckled calf. On the spine, six raised bands. Panels richly gilt. Author and title gilt to red morocco in the second panel. Marbled end-papers. All edges of the text block speckled red. Tanned throughout with some offsetting at the plates. Perforated ownership stamp of the Purdue University Library to the title-page. Griffith Hughes (1707?-after 1750) was a Welsh naturalist and clergyman. Hughes was sent to Pennsylvania to lead several Welsh congregations in the colony. In 1736, he was assigned to St. Lucy’s parish in Barbados, where he studied plants and wildlife. Over twelve years residing on the island, Hughes developed a thorough understanding of its trees and plants. The Natural History of Barbados was the first book to describe the grapefruit, calling it the “Forbidden-Fruit-Tree” and to coin the phrase “yellow fever.” The volume contains a list of subscribers, including the Prince of Wales, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Duke of Orleans. Each plate is dedicated to a patron or subscriber, including a coat of arms. As a religious man, Hughes introduced some sacred texts in his descriptions of the flora and fauna. His cartographer was Thomas Jeffreys (1719-1771), geographer to the Prince of Wales, with engravings after art by Georg Dionysius Ehret (1710-1770). Hunt asserts that “the book is one to place beside Catesby’s Natural History (1731[-47]).” After returning from the Americas, Hughes received his BA from St. John’s College, Oxford in 1748, and was appointed a Fellow of the Royal Society. Although he was praised by Linnaeus and multiple sources, some have questioned his accuracy as a botanist. Sitwell, Great Flower Books p. 60; Hunt 536 (collated identical with copy 2); Nissen 950; Sabin 33582; Wood p. 393.

Estimate:£13,452.75

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