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Natural History and the Sciences

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Works By and About William Henry Hudson

Born into the English ex-patriate community in Argentina, W.H. Hudson became one of the most widely read naturalists of the late-19th and early-20th centuries. His popular books combined keen observations of nature with a compelling narrative style, to produce works as readable today as they were a century ago.

"Hudson is at his best about the greatest living English stylist ... Besides this he is the finest living observer, and the greatest living lover of bird and animal life, and of Nature in her moods."
-- John Galsworthy to A.A. Knopf, Jan. 4, 1915

William Henry Hudson portrait


SquareWorks By Square

All citations refer to
W.H. Hudson: A Bibliography, by John R. Payne, 1977


L-236
Hudson, W.H. The Book of a Naturalist. New York: George H. Doran, 1919. [First American edition]. A fine copy in gilt-lettered grass-green cloth, with minor sunned patches to top front corner and lower edge of spine; small bookseller's label on rear pastedown; some pages unopened; contents bright, tight and clean. An excellent collection of essays on a variety of natural history subjects.
$30


L-238
Hudson, W.H. British Birds. London: Longmans, Green, 1897. New edition. "With a chapter on structure and classification by Frank E. Beddard." With eight full-colour tissue-guarded plates by Thornburn, eight b/w plates, and many sketches in text. Dark red cloth decorated (song-thrush) and lettered in gilt; sunned on spine, and worn at ends, less so at corners; cloth rubbed overall, but gilt decoration still nice and bright. A few underlinings and notations; errata slip at p.108; ink gift inscription on fly leaf; lacks frontis tissue-guard. Very good.
$35

L-239
Hudson, W.H. A Crystal Age. London: Duckworth, 1919. Fourth impression, with the revisions of the second edition. Original dark purple cloth, now sunned to grey on spine, with gilt lettering dulled; a few light "splashes" on both covers near lower spine. Bookplate; discreet ink name and date on title page; endpapers foxed, contents otherwise tight and clean. Very good.
From the collection of Robert Washington Oates, bearing his or the Oates family's ("Bibliotheca Oatesiana") ownership marks. The family library was housed at the Oates home, now a museum in Selborne, England, dedicated to Antarctic explorer Lawrence Oates, and to naturalist Gilbert White, a former owner of the house.
$35

L-240
Hudson, W.H. Dead Man's Plack and An Old Thorn. London & Toronto: J.M. Dent & Sons, 1920. First edition. Original moss green cloth nice and bright; gilt spine lettering bronzed, but sharp; one corner bumped; covers slightly bowed. Text clean and bright; 9 pp. publisher's list at rear. A near fine copy.
$30

L-247
Hudson, W.H. The Naturalist in La Plata. London: Chapman and Hall, 1892. [First edition]. With 23 in-text illustrations and four plates by J. Smit. A fine copy in original dark teal illustrated (Coypú) cloth, lettered in gilt on spine with publisher's device on rear, fore and bottom edges untrimmed; very minor wear to corners and spine ends; spine leaning slightly. Black coated endpapers virtually perfect; portrait of Hudson tipped to verso of frontispiece; edges foxed, some pages lightly so; 40 pp. February 1892 publisher's catalogue at rear.
$200

L-248
[----- Another copy]. This one with April 1892 catalogue. Corners and spine ends a bit worn, with very slight loss; slight "ding" on front fore edge; spine leaning; a bit of rubbing to covers. Small piece lacking from front endpaper; hinges cracked but still very tight; pages clean; ms. memorandum quoting Argentine Ornithology tipped to recto of frontispiece, with addressee's ink signature above, showing through to verso. A near fine copy.
$175

L-250
Hudson, W.H. The Naturalist in la Plata. London: Chapman and -259 Hall, 1895. Third edition. "With illustrations by J. Smit." Original olive green decorated (Coypú) cloth, with publisher's device on rear and gilt lettering on spine; with black coated endpapers. Spine ends creased, corners bumped; short scrape on rear. Endpapers virtually perfect; text tight and bright; 2 pp. press opinions at front. A fine copy. NB. This is the first edition to carry the appendix.
$100

L-252
Hudson, W.H. Nature in Downland. London: Longmans, Green, 1901. Third impression. With illustrations of South Downs views. Original greenish brown cloth lettered and decorated (sunrise in leaf motif) in gilt; sunning at spine and along top edge; top corners a touch bumped; faint "splahes" on rear cover. Booklates on front endpapers; ink note and date on verso; contents clean and bright; 40 pp. publisher's catalogue at rear. A near fine copy.
From the collection of Robert Washington Oates, bearing his or the Oates family's ("Bibliotheca Oatesiana") ownership marks. The family library was housed at the Oates home, now a museum in Selborne, England, dedicated to Antarctic explorer Lawrence Oates, and to naturalist Gilbert White, a former owner of the house.
$75

L-253
Hudson, W.H. Nature in Downland. London: Longmans, Green, 1906. Third impression, re-issue; one of four printings through 1906. With 26 in-text illustrations and full page plates. Original pinkish cloth, blind-stamped on front and gilt-lettered on spine; covers somewhat spotted and soiled; spine sunned, ends creased. Front endpaper neatly excised; others lightly age-toned; a few marginal pencil marks, contents otherwise clean and tight. A very good copy.
$30

L-254
Hudson, W.H. Nature in Downland. London & Toronto: J.M. Dent, 1923. [Popular edition], with the same sheets as the first American issue. Original blue cloth blind-stamped (bird on branch) on front, with now-dulled gilt lettering on spine; lightly rubbed at corners and spine ends; a few snags, one at head of spine (affecting author's name); covers a little splayed. Bookplate, ink name on fly leaf; minor foxing on first and last leaves. A very good copy
From the collection of Robert Washington Oates, bearing his or the Oates family's ("Bibliotheca Oatesiana") ownership marks. The family library was housed at the Oates home, now a museum in Selborne, England, dedicated to Antarctic explorer Lawrence Oates, and to naturalist Gilbert White, a former owner of the house.
$35

L-257
Hudson, W.H. A Shepherd's Life. Tisbury, Wiltshire [England]: Compton Press, 1978. "With wood engravings by Reynolds Stone." A fine copy in pale green boards a touch sunned on gilt-lettered spine; white pictorial (Stone engravings) dust jacket a bit creased at spine ends, with small pinhole on front hinge. An attractive re-issue of this work, first published in 1910.
$20

L-258
Hudson, W.H. South American Sketches. London: Duckworth, 1909. First edition thus. "This volume is a re-issue of the stories which appeared in the 'Greenback Library' in 1902 under the title El Ombu", with cancel title and half title. Original slate blue cloth lettered in blind on front and gilt on spine; fore edge worn with minor loss; spine sunned and a bit soiled; covers a touch bowed. Payne calls for top edge to be stained blue, this copy not stained. Bookplate; prelimiraies foxed, text otherwise clean. Very good.
From the collection of Robert Washington Oates, bearing his or the Oates family's ("Bibliotheca Oatesiana") ownership marks. The family library was housed at the Oates home, now a museum in Selborne, England, dedicated to Antarctic explorer Lawrence Oates, and to naturalist Gilbert White, a former owner of the house.
$35

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Wilfrid M. de Freitas
P.O. Box 232, Westmount Station
Westmount, Quebec, Canada H3Z 2T2

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