Birds.- Edwards (George) A Natural History of Uncommon Birds, vol.1 only (of 4), hand-coloured etched frontispiece, title with engraved vignette, 52 etched plates, brightly hand-coloured "by the author... from prints revers'd", duplicate of plate no.32, contemporary ink inscription to front free endpaper, light foxing and offsetting, bookplate, contemporary calf, ruled in gilt, spine gilt, double red morocco spine label, rebacked preserving original backstrip, a few stains to covers, slightly rubbed, [Anker 124], folio, Printed for the author, 1743.

⁂ The contemporary ink inscription states: "This very extraordinary set of Edwards's birds etc. was color'd by the author, at the special request of a late-celebrated naturalist, for whom it was finished with the greatest care & accuracy. As a proof of the superior excellence of this copy it may be necessary to observe that all the plates in the first volume are done from prints revers'd - the advantage of which is pointed out in page 17 of the Preface, & the difference may be satisfactorily ascertain'd by examining the plates No.32 - (there being one of each sort) & all the plates in the remaining 3 volumes are marked with manuscript numbers, the reason of which may be seen at page 124 of the 2nd volume. The gleanings also are uncommonly fine so that upon the whole it may be pronounced, an extraordinary copy of a very valuable work." Another modern pencil inscription reinforces that this is a 'special copy with the plates coloured by the author".

This is therefore the first volume of an "extraordinary" set of an already "very valuable work", with exceptionally rare counterproofs and allegedly the author's personal hand-colouring. A counterproof results from a costly and time-consuming process whereby a print is taken directly from another that has just been printed. While the ink is still wet, a print is passed through a rolling press again with a clean sheet of paper to get a second copy. In 1765, Edwards wrote to the Earl of Bute, a patron of natural history, to describe how counter proofs from the prints he etched for "History of Uncommon Birds" fooled some viewers who mistook them for drawings: “In the course of My Labours I have taken of reversed Prints of my history of birds on Sett as a Curiosity and have Colourd them higer than ordinary to make them appear Somtings like Drawings, they have deceive som[sic] people in that respect they having no marks of the copper Plates.” Counterproofs produced a subtle and softer image resembling a drawing that could be hand-coloured to better display the nuance of plumage, colour, and anatomy of specimens without the boldness of an engraved line.

The second volume with counterproofs is held by The Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg.