Lewis Morris' De Historia Piscium

The second edition (or reissue), [1740], of Francis Willughby's De Historia Piscium Libri Quatuor (Oxford, 1686) [ESTC N51867, where it is dated c. 1743]. The work is made up of the De Historia Piscium Libri Quatuor (ff. 2-177), together with 'Appendix ad historiam naturalem piscium' (London, 1740) (ff. 178-205) and a sequence of some 187 engraved plates from the first edition (on the rectos of ff. 206-392). The plates have been extensively annotated (with English and Welsh names, and eyewitness accounts), and sometimes further illustrated (on ff. 215, 224, 244, 248, 281 verso, 283, 295, 341 verso, 347), by Welsh polymath Lewis Morris.
Morris' marginal notes glossing the printed text appear on ff. 4 recto-verso, 85, 88 verso-90, 92, 97-104 verso, 115 verso-116, 118, 137, 146, 165 recto-verso, 175 verso-176, 178, 188 verso-189, 191, 192, 194 verso-195 verso, 197, 198 verso-199, 200, 202-204; his Welsh translations of fish names on ff. 16 verso-18; and extensive notes on fish on ff. 206-391 passim. These last set of notes reflect Morris' retrospective interest in fish seen on the coast of Anglesey (ff. 189, 213, 215, 227, 240, 242, 250, 251 verso, 280 verso, 281 verso, 283, 284, 285, 286, 341 verso, 347) and elsewhere (ff. 224, 248, 295 verso) before his departure to Cardiganshire in 1742. Further accounts of fish seen in Cardigan Bay are on ff. 241, 243 verso, 295 (dated 1747) and 311 (dated 1745). It is possible that these notes form the basis of Lewis Morris' projected, but unpublished, Natural History of Anglesey (see Dafydd Wyn Wiliam, Lewis Morris: Deugain Mlynedd Cyntaf ei Oes 1700/1-42 ([Bodedern], 1997), p. 150). See also Maredudd ap Huw, 'Pysgod Lewis Morris', Tlysau'r Hen Oesoedd, 37 (Ebrill 2015), 3-10.

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Bernard Quaritch Ltd.; London; Purchase; November 2013; 006684994.

Title based on contents.

Digitised at NLW in 2015; the versos of ff. 206-242, 244-250, 252-279, 282-293, 296-340, 342-393, being blank, were deliberately ignored.

Preferred citation: NLW MS 24052E.

Digital version available http://hdl.handle.net/10107/4627942 (viewed March 2017)

Upper cover detached on receipt at NLW, and volume re-backed in 2014; back cover loose (March 2015); light dampstain in lower fore-corner of text; minor tears on ff. 217, 281; parts of ff. 51 (upper fore-corner), 124, 170, 220, 234 (lower fore-corners) missing, with no loss of text.

January 2015.

Description compiled by Maredudd ap Huw;

Usual copyright laws apply.

Unidentified 'WS' monogram written in ink [s. xviii] on title-page. Bookplate of 'J. A. Ormerod B.N.C. Dedit Meliora Dabitque' [Ormerod (d. 1864) was a Fellow of Brasenose College, Oxford]. Sold at Bonhams, London, 12 November 2013, lot 269.

Some of Morris's original drawings in NLW MS 24052E (ff. 212, 224, 248, 283, 295, 341 verso and 347) are possibly copied from his corresponding sketches in NLW MS 604D, pp. 52-53, 5, 3, 4, 51, 6 and 16 respectively. NLW MS 604D, pp. 2-17 and 48-54 has other illustrations by Morris of marine life, and pp. 76-81 of that manuscript has a list of 'The English Fishes according to Mr Willoughby's Catalogue'.

Published

Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru = The National Library of Wales