Dear Leslie,

Since you kindly took the trouble to examine your two copies of the 1864 
issue of Gurney's Catalogue, I wonder if you could check some points for me, 
please.

All copies I have seen contain one, two, or all three of the following:
1) the publisher's printed presentation notice: "Messrs. Matchett and 
Stevenson beg to forward the CATALOGUE sent herewith, which is presented by 
the AUTHOR to the Members of the Norwich Museum." This is tipped onto the 
title-page, or more rarely loose (as in one of yours).
2) a notice that Stevenson's Birds of Norfolk is in preparation by Van 
Voorst publishers. Tipped in or loose before the last blank page [91].
3) a ticket of Burns, the binders, at the bottom left hand corner of the 
rear board.

What do your copies show, please?

My copies are in a dark green pebbled cloth, each board blocked in blind, 
with a lenticular shape in the middle, surrounded by a very ornate frame 
with decorative devices at the corners and mid-sides (with the spaces 
between the frame and lenticular shape filled with decoration), all linked 
to  a set of 4 further plain outer frames, surrounded by plain two borders. 
Are yours the same?

Many thanks for your help.
Kind regards,
Ray Williams

P.S.  I don't know what to make of the Amazon records of the 1861 version 
that Lynn Westney found via Google (see below).  I often have the impression 
that they compile "virtual sales lists" from library catalogues, and then 
state that most of the items aren't available!  Not very helpful, really! 
Is this how you read it?



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Leslie Overstreet" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, January 17, 2007 1:42 PM
Subject: Re: [HIST-NAT-HIST] Bibliographical query


>   Since the Smithsonian is mentioned below, I should note that I checked
> our holdings and sadly can't help with this query.  We hold two copies of
> Gurney's catalogue in the Birds library (National Museum of Natural
> History), but both are the 1864 issue.
>   Interestingly one of the copies belonged to Spencer Baird, signed and
> dated by him Dec. 10, 1864.  It also contains two slips of paper, loosely
> inserted:
> 1) the publisher's printed presentation notice: "Messrs. Matchett and
> Stevenson beg to forward the CATALOGUE sent herewith, which is presented 
> by
> the AUTHOR to the Members of the Norwich Museum."
> 2) "Additional species of birds of prey added to the Norwich Museum since
> 1890." [list of scientific names follows]  This printed sheet has a
> manuscript note (in the hand of Charles W. Richmond?): "Rec'd from Gurney. 
> /
> July, 1914."
>   This copy is now in the Cullman Library (our rare-book room for nat-hist
> materials). But I'm afraid that it doesn't assist the inquiry.
>   Leslie Overstreet
>
> PLEASE NOTE new phone and e-mail
>
> (Ms.) Leslie K. Overstreet
> Curator of Natural-History Rare Books
> Smithsonian Institution Libraries
> P.O. Box 37012
> NHB CE-G15 / MRC 154
> Washington DC 20013-7012
>
> phone: (202) 633-1176
> fax:  (202) 633-0219
> e-mail:  [log in to unmask]
>
> http://www.sil.si.edu/libraries/cullman
>
>>>> [log in to unmask] 01/16/07 07:59PM >>>
> I did a Google search on the title and found it listed in Amazon.com as
> not available currently but the 1861 publication turned up twice.
>
> http://www.hypography.com/books/apf4/amazon_products_feed.cgi?Operation=ItemLookup&ItemId=B0008B66FE
>
>
> Binding: Unknown Binding
> Label: John Van Voorst
> Manufacturer: John Van Voorst
> Number Of Pages: 90
> Publication Date: 1861
> Publisher: John Van Voorst
> Studio: John Van Voorst
>
>
> http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0008B66FE%3ftag=i16jp-20%26link_code=xm2%26camp=2025%26dev-t=D2E5ETG5CGB5DD/ref=nosim
>
>
> A descriptive catalogue of the raptorial birds in the Norfolk and Norwich
> Museum (Unknown Binding)
> by John Henry Gurney
>
> Availability: THIS TITLE IS CURRENTLY NOT AVAILABLE.
>
>
> Try a Google book search and type in
>
> descriptive catalogue of the raptorial birds in the Norfolk and Norwich
> Museum 1861
>
> and you will get some intriguing entries.
>
> I checked the Smithsonian and also the database, Early English Books
> Online (EEBO).
>
> Hope this helps somewhat.
>
> If nothing else, it does indicate the presence of a 1861 edition.
>
> Lynn Westney
> University of Illinois at Chicago
>
>
>
> On Mon, 15 Jan 2007, Chaplin, Simon wrote:
>> ________________________________
>>
>> From: Ray Williams [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
>> Sent: 04 January 2007 10:39
>> To: History of Natural History
>> Subject: Bibliographical query
>>
>>
>> Greetings all!
>>
>> I'd be grateful for help in tracing a rare issue of a book.
>>
>> In 1864, Van Voorst published for J.H. Gurney "A descriptive catalogue
>> of the raptorial birds in the Norfolk and Norwich Museum".
>> The title page notes that it was part 1, comprising the Serpentariidae,
>> Polyboridae and Vulturidae.  In fact, no further parts were published.
>>
>> This 1864 issue is fairly common, and I've seen many copies over the
>> years.  However, I recently came across an earlier issue, the only
>> differences being that the title page gives the date 1861, and notes the
>> families Serpentariidae, Polyboridae, Vulturidae and Gypaetidae.
>> I've been able to trace only one copy of this earlier issue, noted on
>> OCLC at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History.
>>
>> Further enquiries there established that the texts of the two issues are
>> identical and are on similar paper, but I'm now left with the question
>> of whether the 1861 issue was ever available commercially, or was a
>> prepublication issue distributed only to colleagues of the Author (this
>> unique copy was a presentation).  Nevertheless, the cloth casing of the
>> 1861 copy is the same as that of the common 1864 issue, and a Van Voorst
>> advertisement was tipped in, so it doesn't seem to be a private issue.
>> But what could explain the three year gap between the issues, and the
>> fact that the 1861 is so rare?
>>
>> Can anybody direct me to further copies of the 1861 issue, please?  And
>> any ideas to explain the associated mysteries?!
>>
>> Thanks in advance for your kind help.
>>
>>
>> Prof. Ray B. Williams,
>> London, UK
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