Although Catesby explored, botanized and collected, sent preserved and dried specimens home to friends, and made his initial specimen illustrations of birds, he does not appear to have formulated his plan to publish a natural history during this inaugural visit to America. He seems instead, to have arrived at the idea upon his return to England, where the excitement expressed by his colleagues over his collections and drawings convinced him to re-cross the Atlantic in 1722 to continue his research in Carolina and Florida. In 1726, after a nine month stay in the Bahama Islands, he returned to London, which he described as the Center of all Science', to begin his work on an 'Essay Towards a Natural History', a detailed visual and verbal account of the extensive region that he had explored. The 'Essay' would take him twenty-one years to complete.

Unable to afford a professional engraver, Catesby taught himself the fine art of etching. By 1729, he was able to attend a meeting of the Royal Society in London to present the first portion of his work along with his proposals for it's completion, by subscription, in 10 sections of 20 plates each. He was 'assisted and encouraged', as his prospectus stated, by, amongst others, Sir Hans Sloane, President of the Royal Society, the collector Richard Mead and William Shephard, the botanist.

As with this facsimile edition of the watercolors, Catesby published his work in parts, by subscription, periodically issuing groups of twenty plates at a time. Although the publication dates are printed on the title page as 1731 and 1743, in actuality the plates were issued between 1729 and 1747, and have generally been bound into two volumes. The map of the eastern seaboard of North America, copied by Catesby after Henry Popple's Map of the British Empire in America with French and Spanish Settlements Adjacent Thereto (London, 1733),and included in the second volume, will be reissued with this publication. The importance of Mark Catesby's Natural History of the Carolinas, Florida & The Bahama Islands was quickly and widely recognized. It was the very first, significant, illustrated record of the flora and fauna of the British Colonies in North America. Nothing comparable was undertaken until the first decades of the 19th century. Catesby's editions of the etchings are now rare and much sought after.

In harmony with the ideas of his time, Catesby was adamant that illustrations were essential to an accurate understanding of natural history 'I may aver a clearer Idea may be conceiv'd from the figures of Animals and Plants in their proper Color, than from the most exact Description without them'. Eventually his text was to be accompanied by two hundred and twenty of his own etchings, based on the watercolors drawn from nature,now being published for the first time.As purchased by King George III, Mark Catesby's original watercolors number two hundred and sixty-three. Several serve as models for one plate which explains the smaller total of two hundred and twenty prints in the 18th century publication of the etchings. A study of the watercolors in the Royal Library at Windsor Castle has shown that at least eleven of them were painted by George Dionysius Ehret, one of the most important botanical artists of the time; other hands have also been identified. Together this suggests, that Catesby's publication was in fact an important collaborative work, even if the etchings were all his own.

The publication of the watercolors in facsimile will bring to completion, over two hundred and fifty years after they were made, Catesby's own expressed ambition of reproducing his finished drawings as accurately as possible using a technique that was not available, not even dreamt of in his lifetime.

The Alecto Facsimile Edition,The original watercolors for Mark Catesby's Natural History were purchased by King George III in 1768, for the princely sum of one hundred and twenty pounds. Although they have always been available to scholars, they have never been published.The King acquired the watercolors in three leather-bound volumes and housed them in the Royal Collection,where they have remained ever since. Thus, the colors are still extraordinarily fresh. However, the watercolors are inevitably subject to rubbing from the pages of the books, and with growing interest and increased handling, the decisions have been made to remove them for conservation and to mount them separately. The work of conserving and remounting the Catesby watercolors, which will take three years, has given Alecto Historical Editions the opportunity of embarking upon the equivalently laborious process of preparing facsimiles of the originals. These will be published in parts, by subscription, over a three year period, in much the same way Catesby himself originally issued groups of his own etched versions. Catesby's celebrated work, begun in 1729 and not completed until 1747, is one of the primary documentations of the natural history of the New World. This Alecto facsimile edition of the watercolors will comprise all two hundred and sixty-three images in the Royal Collection and will be published in parts over a three-year period. The edition will be limited to fifty complete sets, numbered 1/50 through 50/50, with an additional ten sets hors de commerce, numbered X/I through X/X.

The edition is being printed using the process of stochastic lithography. This completely new advance in printing technology uses a system of computer-controlled microdots distributed in accordance with the tonal values of the original. Therefore, unburdened by a regular pattern of dots, facsimiles created by stochastic lithography are almost indistinguishable from the originals.The quality of the facsimiles is further enhanced by the use of a special mould-made paper virtually identical to that used by Catesby. Each image will be printed by hand, on a flat bed proofing press, one color at a time, each being allowed to dry before the next color is applied. This lengthy process allows the flow of ink to be perfectly controlled; experiments have shown that a total run of 50 or 60 impressions is the maximum number that will ensure a perfect result for each. During the proofing process, the original watercolors will be available in the studio so that they can be compared individually with the printed proofs as they come off the hand press. When the print run for each image has been completed, the plates will be destroyed.

Alecto Historical Editions will publish the facsimile edition of the two hundred and sixty-three original watercolors for Mark Catesby's Natural History of Carolina, Florida and The Bahama Islands in thirteen installments to be completed by May 1999. As of this writing in April 1998, seven sets of twenty images have already been issued and are available for sale.(See prospectus for details) The edition is limited worldwide to 50 complete sets of all two hundred and sixty-three watercolors, with an additional 10 sets hors de commerce. Each subscriber to the complete edition will receive a representative group of 26 original prints from the HC sets suitable for framing. ONLY TEN SETS HAVE BEEN DIVIDED FOR SALE OF INDIVIDUAL IMAGES.Alecto Historical Editions has devised a syndicate purchasing scheme with the aim of helping and encouraging public institutions to purchase sets of the Catesby watercolor facsimiles. In this way,individual collectors can, as shareholders, help the institutions of their choice and at the same time, obtain copies of the facsimiles for themselves. In a similar manner, groups of individuals might consider buying a set of the facsimiles by forming their own syndicate.The Royal Collection has undertaken not to allow the publication of a subsequent facsimile of the Catesby watercolors for at least 50 years after the completion of the Alecto Historical Editions' project. The Royal Collection has also arranged for two travelling exhibitions of Catesby's watercolors starting May 1997. One group of 52 plates is destined for the United States, the other group of 60 plates - for Japan. On their return, there will be an amalgamated exhibition of the watercolors at the Queens Gallery, Buckingham Palace, London from October 1998. The dates and venues for the American tour are as follows:

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