An Invitation to subscribe to one of the fifty sets in the First Facsimile Edition of the two hundred
and sixty three original & unpublished Watercolour Drawings now in the Royal Library,
at Windsor Castle made for


THE NATURAL HISTORY OF CAROLINA, FLORIDA & THE BAHAMA ISLANDS

BY

MARK CATESBY FRS (1682 - 1749)

BIRDS, BEASTS, FISHES, SERPENTS INSECTS & PLANTS

The Facsimile Edition is published by

ALECTO HISTORICAL EDITIONS

LONDON

The Natural History of Carolina, Florida & the Bahama Islands by Mark Catesby FRS

The original watercolour drawings from which the plates for Catesby's Natural History were etched were purchased by King George III in 1768. They have remained, unpublished, in the Royal Collection ever since.

Catesby's celebrated work, begun in 1729 and not completed until 1747, was the first major illustrated record of the flora and fauna of the British colonies in North America. No comparable publication was undertaken until the first decades of the 19th century.

This facsimile edition of the watercolours comprises all two hundred and sixty-three images in the Royal Collection and was published in Parts over a three year period. The edition is limited to fifty complete sets, numbered 1-50 to 50-50, with an additional ten sets hors de commerce numbered HC I/X to HC X/X.

The facsimiles of the watercolours were hand printed, one colour at a time, by the stochastic lithographic process, to a degree of quality that would have astonished the artist himself.

The Royal Library, Windsor Castle, has undertaken not to allow the publication of a subsequent facsimile of the watercolours until at least fifty years have passed from the completion of this first edition.

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