Curiosities of Natural History
Curiosities of Natural History
Buckland, Francis T.
Published by Richard Bentley, London 1867 & 1868
£100
4 vols. (all published), 8vo., ( 180x120x30mm. each), original green cloth embossed in gold on front covers, slight damage to head and tail of spines, a mixed set, first series tenth edition 1868, second series sixth edition 1857 (2 vols), third series vol I & II second edition 1868,
10 plates including 3 frontispieces, very good.
An extraordinary work by an extraordinary person. He was a serious naturalist and zoologist but wrote and lived as a populist and eccentric. I am taking the liberty of two quotes from Wikipedia. The second paragraph is an example of his writing.
“Buckland was a pioneer of zoöphagy: his favourite research was eating the animal kingdom. This habit he learnt from his father, whose residence, the Deanery, offered such rare delights as mice in batter, squirrel pie, horse's tongue and ostrich. After the "Eland Dinner" in 1859 at the London Tavern, organised by Richard Owen, Buckland set up the Acclimatization Society to further the search for new food. Buckland spoke about the introduction of the turkey, musk-duck and pheasant in the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth century respectively and that it was a pity that the same monotonous food was being eaten in the heyday of Queen Victoria's reign.[13] In 1862 a hundred guests at Willis' Rooms sampled Japanese sea slug (= sea cucumber, probably), kangaroo, guan, curassow and Honduras turkey. This was really quite a modest menu, though Buckland had his eye on capybara for the future. Buckland's home, 37 Albany Street, London, was famous for its menagerie and its varied menus,[25] including, at times, boiled elephant trunk, rhinoceros pie, porpoise heads, and stewed mole”
"On Tuesday evening, at 5pm, Messrs Grove, of Bond Street, sent word that they had a very fine sturgeon on their slab. Of course, I went down at once to see it... The fish measured 9 feet in length [nearly three metres]. I wanted to make a cast of the fellow... and they offered me the fish for the night: he must be back in the shop the next morning by 10 am... [various adventures follow] I was determined to get him into the kitchen somehow; so, tying a rope to his tail, I let him slide down the stone stairs by his own weight. He started all right, but 'getting way' on him, I could hold the rope no more, and away he went sliding headlong down the stairs, like an avalanche down Mont Blanc... he smashed the door open... and slid right into the kitchen... till at last he brought himself to an anchor under the kitchen table. This sudden and unexpected appearance of the armour-clad sea monster, bursting open the door... instantly created a sensation. The cook screamed, the house-maid fainted, the cat jumped on the dresser, the dog retreated behind the copper and barked, the monkeys went mad with fright, and the sedate parrot has never spoken a word since."