A Vertebrate Fauna of Scotland - North West Highland and Skye - ‘This is the late Duchess of Bedford’s annotated copy’

First edition owned and inscribed by The Duchess of Bedford, and later owned and inscribed by British naturalist James Fisher. Green publisher’s cloth a little water marked to upper; slightly bumped to corners; exhibiting slight spine slant. Deep red endpapers a little water marked to tail, inscribed to front pastedown, ‘M Bedford. S.Y. Sapphire’. (The S.Y. Sapphire was built in 1912 for the Duke of Bedford). Title page signed to top ‘James Fisher’ and annotated in his same hand, ‘This is the late Duchess of Bedford’s annotated copy’. Some signs of water damage to preliminary leaves, remnants of mustiness; text block, illustrations, photographs protected by original tissue guards and colour fold out map in very good condition throughout.

In 1910, the Duchess of Bedford was honoured as one of the first five Honorary Lady Members of the British Ornithological Union. She spent much of her time between 1909 and 1914 doing bird-watching and research on Fair Isle and in her lifetime she extensively documented bird populations on remote Scottish islands like Fair Isle and St Kilda. Her fieldwork closely intersected with the career of James Fisher (1912–1970), one of the most famous British naturalists, ornithologists, and authors of the 20th century who followed Lady Bedford’s timeline of research and cited her historical data.

An interesting copy with an even more interesting connection.