HISTORY OF THE EARTH AND ANIMATED NATURE - Goldsmith, 1816 - COMPLETE 6 Vols

Title: A HISTORY OF THE EARTH, AND ANIMATED NATURE. New Edition; In Six Volumes

Author: Oliver Goldsmith

Book Details + Condition: Oliver Goldsmith's A HISTORY OF THE EARTH, AND ANIMATED NATURE, from 1816 and complete in six leather-bound volumes. With information on dogs, birds, fish, insects, reptiles and much more. Beautiful 105 naturalist plates in total. In 1773, during his summer retirement to his farmer's cottage near Hyde, Goldsmith was under contract to produce The Grecian History, from the Earliest State to the Death of Alexander the Great and An History of the Earth, and Animated Nature, both of which were published in the next, and final, year of his life (1774). First American edition was 1795, and in the library of Thomas Jefferson's library when he bequeathed the set to the Library of Congress. Each volume measures 8.5" by 5.5". Pagination: Vol 1: 439pp.; Vol II: 439pp.; Vol III: 412pp.; Vol IV: 427pp.; Vol V: 444pp.; Vol VI: 199pp + 192-page Index. Overall in very good condition: shelfwear to each volume, include scrapes (etc) to the original leather; rubbed corners; binding is tight for each volume. Each has owner's bookplate on interior front board. Age-toned pages and periodic foxing; foxing occurs on the opposite text page of the plates - perhaps from the ink. A handful of pages have more foxing, including on the first few pages of each volume.