[PENNANT, Thomas]
History of Quadrupeds.
London, Printed for B White, 1781.£350.00
4to, 2 volumes in one, separate engraved t-p to each part. pp: xxiv, 566, [14]. 52 numbered pages of plates (usually two per page), and 2 further engraved illustrations. Roman letter, some italic, a little Greek. Preface a bit foxed, light glue staining to edges of last few leaves, occasional very light ink transfer from engravings. Contemporary calf, rebacked, red and black morocco labels. A very good, clean, crisp, wide-margined copy, engravings in clean, clear impression.
A very well-preserved copy of the second, enlarged edition of Thomas Pennant’s (1726-1798) encyclopaedia of quadrupeds. The first two-volume edition, this is a hugely expanded version of the 1771 Synopsis of Quadrupeds, nearly 200 pages longer and with 21 additional plates. This copy boasts a complete set of 54 illustrations depicting Pennant’s animals in characterful detail. The illustrations are a collaboration between artist/engravers Moses Griffith (1747-1819) and Peter Mazell (1733-1808), alongside engraver R. Murray. Murray and Mazell’s names appear in some plates of the ‘History’, while Griffith’s appeared alongside Murray’s on the title page of the 1771 ‘Synopsis’. Griffith and Mazell were talented illustrators known for their focus on natural history; indeed, Griffith was employed by Pennant as a draughtsman on most of his tours and contributed a substantial number of drawings for his publications (DNB XV 766).
Pennant’s ‘History’ provides detailed descriptions of four-legged creatures, arranged into four divisions: hoofed, digitated, pinnated and winged. Each division is further organised into sections according to certain characteristics, such as whole or cloven hooves, canine or other cutting teeth and carnivorous or herbivorous diet. As well as informative descriptions of the appearance, diets and habitats of these creatures, the ‘History’ provides a fascinating insight into the eighteenth-century discourse on biological classification. Pennant’s work is a modern update on John Ray’s ‘Synopsis of Quadrupeds and Serpents’ (1693). For information on the animals, he draws particularly from Comte de Buffon’s volumes on quadrupeds in the ‘Histoire Naturelle’ (1753-67). Pennant’s system of divisions, however, synthesises those of Ray and Jacob Klein with Linnaeus, whose binomial system is still in use today. While Pennant acknowledges Linnaeus’ contribution in some areas, he remains opposed to the arrangement of his mammalian group: “I reject his first division, which he calls Primates, or chiefs of the creation; because my vanity will not suffer me to rank mankind with Apes, Monkies, Maucaucos, and Bats” (Preface, iii-iv). Pennant’s ‘History’ thus represents a fascinating stage in the development of natural history, modernising but still tied to a model of creation as a reflection of religious order in which mankind is separate. An attractive copy of this work devoted to “organizing, popularizing, and promoting the study of natural history”. (DSB X 509)
‘Pennant was a representative of the best of the gentleman-naturalists who flourished in the late eighteenth century and who sought to comprehend all of nature’ (DSB X 509-510)
‘Pennant’s name stands high among the naturalists of the eighteenth century, and he has been commended for making dry and technical matter interesting’ (DNB XV 767)
ESTC T113535; Freeman 2960; Lowndes 1823; DSB X 509-10; DNB XV 765-8