Beschreibung:

14 volumes, comprising Parts I-XIV (complete). Each volume comprised of text booklet in wrappers, plus wood samples on card mounts, loose as issued. 354 mounts, numbered 1-350, with additional plates 7a, 7b, 26a & 62a. All but 2 of the mount displays three specimens from a species of tree in transverse, radial and tangential sections; mounts 344 (black ironwood) and 346 (red stopper) display only radial and tangential sections, as issued. Card mounts housed in original blind-stamped brown cloth chemises, original blindstamped slipcases, all but 1 with clasps still present (the chemise and slipcase of Part XIII are green). Slipcases measure 25.5x17.5 cm (10x7"). Third edition of Part I, second edition of Parts II & III, the remainder in the first edition. Rare complete set of one of the greatest American works on trees and woods, it is: “illustrated by actual specimens, and being in this way an exhibition of nature itself. It possesses a peculiar and great interest never found in a press-printed book” (Hough). Romeyn B. Hough prepared the samples himself and self-published the work. It provides a unique record of American wood types, arranged geographically. Several parts in this section cover California and the Pacific Slope. This is a tremendously important work for ecologists as well as connoisseurs of American furniture and antiques. Each specimen is about 2x4½” in size and cut thinly enough to be partially translucent. This set is rarely found complete, presumably because it was published over a span of 14 years. Formerly in Sondley Reference Library, Ashville, North Carolina, with white ink spine lettering and numbering, bookplates on inside covers of the chemises and inside front wrappers of the text volumes, blindstamps to title pages of the text volumes, and stamped numbers on their versos; the lower wood sample of each panel has a Sondley Library rubberstamp in the lower corner (except those in Part III, which have the stamp to each of the wood samples).