I found this orphaned volume #5 of Goldsmith’s Natural History. 

 

Oliver Goldsmith wrote the great book “The Vicar of Wakefield” interesting to see him write Natural History...

 

This copy was printed in 1776:

 

The same year that ‘Hamilton’ was raising militia to fight the English in America! An age where European powers sailed the seas discovering and conquering.

 

An age of growing interest for the Sciences including Natural History. A prelude to Darwin.

I have the same book already but from an 1818 set, I wonder how Type/Font and the printed images will compare?

 

Darwin was aged 9 at this time. The Dodo was likely extinct by the time he set sail.

It’s curious to find a section describing the Dodo bird. I wonder if it was still alive at the time?

Will the printing plates have improved in subsequent editions?

 

Left image 1818. Right image 1776.

The Dodo is the poster child for human kind’s ability to impact the environment and cause extinction.

The text describes the bird and how good it is to eat....

Access to information was still limited at the time: Take a look at the Dodo in the Natural History Museum and you’ll see there’s no way 3-4 of them would feed 100 men.