Animal Biography; Or, Authentic Anecdotes of the Lives, Manners, and Economy of the Animal Creation, Arranged according to the System of Linnaeus. Second Edition, With considerable Additions and Corrections.

London: Printed for Richard Phillips..., 1804. . 3 volumes. 8vo, 210 x 130 mms., pp. xxiii [xxiv blank], 504 [505 - 512 indexes]; [ii], 554; [ii], 580, folding engraved plate of lioness and whelps in volume 1, recently rebound in black hard grain quarter morocco, marbled boards, red leather label; labels defective, but a very good set. Bingley (1774 - 1823) first published this work in 1802, and it was immediately popular. By 1842, it had reached six editions and had been translated into several European languages. He also published a dictionary of Musical Biography in 1814. The British Critic and Quarterly Theological Review noticed the work in 1803, commending it and remarking that "A desire to render his work useful to the female sex, and cause the study of biology to become a branch of their acquirements, has led Mr. B. to abstain from entering on those subjects which might be dangerous to the purity of the female mind; in this respect his work is more valuable than the writings of Buffon and his followers; among whom a contrary proceeding is so conspicuous. Partial collections of zoological collections are, from their delicacy and beauty, adapted to the manners of the sex; but we are doubtful if an attention to living animals (the part here principally illustrated) can, notwithstanding every caution, be recommended with propriety to female students."