You may associate oil with Texas, or Saudi Arabia, or some other exotic land, but it all began in Pennsylvania. Item 22 is Mather's Historical Oil Region Views of Western Pennsylvania, published in 1895. Oil was discovered near Titusville in 1859, and the following year, recent English immigrant John A. Mather set off for Titusville to make his fortune. However, he did not come with drills or derricks. He brought a camera. He set up a photography studio and gallery, and for 40 years photographed the oil region. This album, which includes reprintings of earlier negatives, shows the oil fields, early Titusville, and Edwin Drake, who first discovered the oil. Captions were written into the negatives. $18,000.
This catalogue contains many books of beautiful natural history illustrations, notably flowers, birds, and mammals. Here are some animals you don't usually find so well illustrated – Tortoises, Terrapins and Turtles. Drawn from Life. This 1872 folio features the illustrations of James Sowerby and the lithographs of Edward Lear. These plates were first started all the way back in 1831, to be used in Thomas Bell's Monograph Testudinata. Unfortunately, the publisher of that work went bankrupt, and only 40 of the plates were used. This later work includes 60 plates, 57 hand colored. Text for the final 20 plates was prepared by John Edward Gray, who also wrote the introductory explanation. Mr. Bell would not provide them with the original text for the unpublished illustrations. Item 86. $27,500.
Donald Heald Rare Books may be reached at 212-744-3505 or info@donaldheald.com. Their website is www.donaldheald.com.
