RARE Book SET 1893 American Woods Hough Veneer Samples Start Price USD 11,950.00 Current Price USD 11,950.00 Time Left - Bid Count 0 Buy It Now Price - Reserve Price - Start Time Tuesday, September 16, 2008 End Time Saturday, November 15, 2008 Location Rochester, NY See more about 'RARE Book SET 1893 American Woods Hough Veneer Samples' Description VERY Rare Book Set   10 Volumes - Collated Complete    Many Wood Veneer Specimens     The American Woods   by   Romeyn B. Hough   1893-1904- with Hundreds of Veneer Samples!         For offer, a very rare set of books! Fresh from a prominent estate. Vintage, Old, Original - NOT a Reproduction - Guaranteed !! The American Woods, exhibited by actual specimens and with copious explanatory text, by Romeyn B. Hough. Lowville, NY: Published by the Author, 1893-1904. Published over a period of many years. The 10 volumes offered here are collated complete. Numerous samples of wood, each wafer-thin transverse, radial and tangential sections illustrating American species of trees, window-mounted in card mounts. Each volume comprises a letterpress text booklet in wrappers and wood samples on gilt-lettered black card mounts, loose as issued; each text volume and accompanying samples within original green cloth cover in matching original cloth slipcase, with metal catch and bosses to covers. Ten parts (volumes), numbered I-X, octavo volumes, of an eventual fourteen: first edition of parts IV-X; second edition of parts I-III. The 14 volume set sells for $45,000+. Here is your chance to own 10 volumes - complete. Exceptionally hard to find. A contemporary reviewer called this work `one of the most marvelous and instructive books ever made ' (Art Education). This remarkable work was the lifetime achievement of Romeyn B. Hough, who devoted himself to the study of American trees, and who is best known for his Handbook of Trees of the Northern States and Canada, long a standard reference work in American dendrology. In this work, Hough sought to describe the woods found in America, with a detailed description in an accompanying pamphlet, and with thin cross-sections of actual woods mounted and labeled in accompanying stiff cardboard mounts. These provide a unique record of American wood types, arranged geographically. Generally each species is shown with wood cut on traverse section, radial section, and tangential section. The samples are so thin as to be easily translucent. The age of these specimens gives them tremendous importance from an ecological standpoint, as well as their great interest to students of American furniture and woodcrafts. The trees available to Hough at the time make such an endeavor impossible to contemplate today. Parts I-IV cover New York and adjacent states, part V covers Florida, parts VI-X describe the Pacific Slope. Hough explained the unique nature of the work thus: it is `illustrated by actual specimens, and being in this way an exhibition of nature itself it possesses a peculiar and great interest never found in a press-printed book. The specimens are.about 2 x 5 in. in size, and sufficiently thin to admit of examination in transmitted light.Looked at in reflected light they appear as in the board or log. These specimens are mounted in durable frame-like Bristol-board pages, with black waterproofed surfaces.and each bears printed in gilt-bronze the technical name of the species and its English, German, French and Spanish names. The pages are separable.and are accompanied with a full text.giving information as to the uses and physical properties of the woods, and distributions, habits of growth, botanical characters, habitats, medicinal properties, etc,., of the trees. The woods used for the specimens are personally collected by the author and are sectioned and prepared by a process of his own device'. Complete sets of this work are very rare. The volumes were priced at five dollars each, a high price reflecting the work involved in assembling them. Since subscribers came and went over the 25-year period of publication and many only bought the volume or volumes on the areas that interested them. The rarity of complete sets can be judged from the fact that Stafleu and Cowan record the work as being complete in 6 volumes. Cf. BM (NH) II,p.880. Original cloth binding and slipcases, with marbled edges. Good to very good condition overall. Occasional natural cracking and warping to a few samples, a few small chips in a few samples. A few areas of staining to binding. Some of the black color worn / lightly pulled at plate edges, not affecting text or samples. I assume this happened when they were issued (perhaps slightly damp when put together, and later pulled apart a little bit). Please see sample photos below. NOTE: Looks better than shown in photos, and there is MUCH more than shown below! If you collect 19th / 20th century wood, woodworking, logging, Americana history, science, biology, etc., this is a treasure! Add this to your bibliophile library or paper / ephemera collection. Perhaps some genealogy research importance too. You will Not find this listed anywhere else on ebay! Winning bidder pays 45.00 s/h in U.S. Combine shipping on multiple bid wins! insurance is extra, international s/h is more.  No reserve. Good luck bidding.  Click the button to see my other items->->       Place a Bid!