WILSON, Alexander (1766-1813) and ORD, George. American Ornithology; or, The Natural History of the Birds of the United States . Philadelphia: Bradford and Inskeep, 1808-1813, and Samuel F. Bradford, 1824-1825."The first truly great American ornithology and also the first truly outstanding American color plate book of any type" (Bennett). The present set has descended through the family of an original subscriber, through seven generations. While his fame has been eclipsed by that of Audubon, Wilson was truly the "father of American ornithology," and his work represents the first attempt to systematically describe and depict the various birds of the United States from first-hand observation. He traveled extensively in the American wilderness, caught and studied 320 different birds, including several that had not previously been known, and taught himself the art of drawing. He personally supervised the engraving of the plates, assisted in the coloring, wrote the descriptions, and even acted as his own salesman, peddling the work from door to door. Wilson died before the final volumes were published, and the text of the work was completed from his notes by George Ord, who also contributed a lengthy biography of Wilson to the final volume. The present set is a mixed edition, containing first editions of volumes 1-7 (being the second issue of volume one) and reissues of volumes 8-9. Anker 533 ("the classical work of American ornithological literature"); Bennett, p. 114; Fine Bird Books , p. 114 ("the first American bird book with coloured plates published in America"); Nissen IVB 992; Sabin 104597; Stamped with a National Character 3 ("the first American work to use color plates to convey scientific information").Provenance : Joseph Jones, b.1739, one of the original subscribers (by descent to the current owner; a few instances of contemporary marginalia including some captioning of engraved plates).