WILSON, ALEXANDER. 1766-1813. Poems. Paisley: J. Nielson for the author, 1790. 8vo (205 x 127 mm). Hand-colored engraved frontispiece (probably colored later). Calf-backed boards, rebacked with original spine laid down, folding cloth chemise and quarter calf slipcase. Covers soiled, browning and foxing throughout. WITH 4 others by Wilson: The Foresters: a Poem Descriptive of a Pedestrian Journey to the Falls of Niagara. PA: S. Siegfried & J. Wilson, 1818. 4 copies. 12mo (180 x 108 mm). 1 copy in printed boards, 3 in contemporary tree calf, rebacked with morocco spine labels, all contained in a half blue morocco custom box. Covers worn and stained, all slightly foxed. Provenance: Daniel Webster Evans (1907-1966. Bookplates loosely inserted). Scottish-American naturalist Alexander Wilson wrote poetry and satirical commentary on the working conditions of weavers in the mills of his native Paisley. He was arrested for the latter and emigrated to America upon his release. Taking up teaching as a profession he gained an serious interest in ornithology, and undertook a complete work on the birds of America, completing American Ornithology some 13 years before the first volume of Audubon's Birds of America. A number of the poems in these works include references to birds: "The wand'ring brook — the glittering rill, The Cuckoo's note heard from the hill, The warb'ling Thrush and Black-bird shrill, Inspire with rapt'rous glee...."
WILSON, ALEXANDER. 1766-1813. Poems. Paisley: J. Nielson for the author, 1790. 8vo (205 x 127 mm). Hand-colored engraved frontispiece (probably colored later). Calf-backed boards, rebacked with original spine laid down, folding cloth chemise and quarter calf slipcase. Covers soiled, browning and foxing throughout. WITH 4 others by Wilson: The Foresters: a Poem Descriptive of a Pedestrian Journey to the Falls of Niagara. PA: S. Siegfried & J. Wilson, 1818. 4 copies. 12mo (180 x 108 mm). 1 copy in printed boards, 3 in contemporary tree calf, rebacked with morocco spine labels, all contained in a half blue morocco custom box. Covers worn and stained, all slightly foxed. Provenance: Daniel Webster Evans (1907-1966. Bookplates loosely inserted). Scottish-American naturalist Alexander Wilson wrote poetry and satirical commentary on the working conditions of weavers in the mills of his native Paisley. He was arrested for the latter and emigrated to America upon his release. Taking up teaching as a profession he gained an serious interest in ornithology, and undertook a complete work on the birds of America, completing American Ornithology some 13 years before the first volume of Audubon's Birds of America. A number of the poems in these works include references to birds: "The wand'ring brook — the glittering rill, The Cuckoo's note heard from the hill, The warb'ling Thrush and Black-bird shrill, Inspire with rapt'rous glee...."
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
