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[Publisher’s circular advertising “Earth, Sea and Sky,” three books in one.]

Philadelphia: National Publishing Co., Publishers, [ca. 1887]. Illustrated broadsheet, 12” x 9.5”, pink paper. CONDITION: Very good.

A marvelously illustrated promotional circular for a sweeping three-in-one volume of natural history written by a prolific Presbyterian minister and covering “all that is wonderful in every continent of the globe.”

An engraving of the intricately illustrated cover and spine of Henry Davenport Northrop’s Earth, Sea and Sky occupies almost the entire front side of this circular. Despite conveying “but a faint idea of the Exquisite Beauty of the Magnificent Cloth Binding,” the illustration shows it in almost dizzying detail, with imagery in two primary scenes: above the title, two beasts of the “antediluvian world” standing beneath palm fronds and a glittering night sky, watching an enormous, soaring comet; and, below the title, a teaming cutaway ocean, complete with flying fish, swooping birds of prey, and a boat sending out divers into the depths—one of whom is tragically caught in the toothy maw of a shark. The deep sea world includes an enormous lobster, a swordfish, and fabulously wibbly corals and seaweed.

Various outlines and promotional statements of the work appear on the verso, detailing each section and hailing the whole as “a vast treasury of the Marvels of the Universe.” A statement of “Conditions” informs prospective buyers about the features of the volume itself (“864 large pages, Splendidly embellished with 329 fine large Engravings,” etc.), as well as its availability in English or German in “Extra Fine Cloth,” “Fine Leather,” or “Extra Fine Full Morocco.”

Henry Davenport Northrup (1836–1909) was a Presbyterian minister and, later in his life, a prolific author: Earth, Sea and Sky (1887) was only his second book, published just a year after Marvelous Wonders of the Whole World, and was followed by some thirty-eight works spanning the north and south poles, the tropics, biographies, histories of the U.S., anti-Chinese and anti-Indigenous works, Bible stories, literary anthologies, and more.

Item #10387

Price: $350.00

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