FAUNA BOREALI-AMERICANA; OR THE ZOOLOGY OF THE NORTHERN PARTS OF BRITISH AMERICA: Containing Descriptions of the Objects of Natural History Collected on the Late Northern Land Expeditions, Under Command of Sir John Franklin, R.N. Part First, Containing the Quadrupeds.

First edition. Inscribed by the author to John McDiarmid. 4to. Publisher's original grey paper-covered boards with printed paper title label to the spine. Page edges untrimmed. Illustrated with 28 black and white etched plates. An excellent near fine copy, the binding square and tight with minor cracking to the head of the joints and a little wear to the extremities. The contents, with a previous owner's (early twentieth century) bookplate to the front pastedown, light offsetting from the plates to the facing text pages and faint spotting to the edges of the plates, are otherwise wonderfully clean and bright throughout. The plates themselves remain bold and fresh. A superb copy, entirely in its original state.

Inscribed by John Richardson in black ink to the half title page "To John McDiarmid Esq. / from his friend The Author". The first part this monumental work on the natural history of the Arctic by Sir John Richardson (1787-1865), the Scottish doctor, naturalist and Arctic explorer who served on Sir John Franklin's Arctic expeditions of 1819-22 and 1825-27 as ship's doctor and naturalist. Whilst in the Canadian Arctic as part of Franklin's overland expeditions, Richardson recorded his extensive observations and collected a large number of plant and animal specimens. On his return to England, following the second expedition, he began, with assistance from the naturalists William Swainson and William Kirby, to write his four-volume work of natural history, first published as individual volumes between 1829 and 1837. This present volume, dedicated to mammals, was the first to appear, with a second volume (concerning birds) published in 1831, followed by subsequent volumes on fish and insects, all superbly illustrated by Thomas Landseer. A key member of Franklin's team, Richardson aided in the mapping of a substantial area of the Canadian Arctic, in addition to making one of the most significant contributions to the understanding of the natural history of the region. Notably, following the infamous disappearance of Franklin's doomed 1845 Arctic expedition, Richardson also later travelled alongside John Rae in 1848-9 in search of his lost comrades on one of the subsequent (unsuccessful) rescue missions. The recipient of the present volume is most likely John McDiarmid (1790-1852), the influential Scottish journalist and author, popular in contemporary Scottish literary circles, who came from Richardson's hometown of Dumfries and was only three years his junior.