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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
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Works By
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-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-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
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