Gamonia: or, The Art of Preserving Game; and an improved method of making plantations and covers, explained and illustrated. By Lawrence Rawstorne, Esq. With fifteen coloured drawings by J.T. Rawlins, taken on the spot. 8vo, xiv, [3], 18-208 pp, 15 leaves of coloured plates, 23.5cm, London: Published for the Proprietor, by Rudolph Ackermann, 1837.
15 aquatint plates heightened with gum arabic, complete with tissue guards. Original publisher's green pebbled full morocco binding with bold gilt strapwork design borders on both covers, gilt lettering on spine, all edges gilt. Neat presentation inscription by the author's son, dated 1874. An absolutely fine copy.
"An esteemed book. It is really a treatise on forestry, written with a view to laying out plantations in the way most suitable to game preservation. But the highly coloured plates mostly represent shooting scenes. They are unusually attractive, and convey a good impression of the way in which our forebears killed their game, in the beginning of the 19th century. There are several pictures showing a kind of battue, where the sportsmen used two guns and loaders, but the shooting appears to have been very wild." (Schwerdt) Tooley 393; Schwerdt II, p. 127.
