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Skip to Main ContentSoffer Ornithology Collection Notes (alphabetical by author)
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Falla, R(obert) A(lexander) (1901-1979), et al. A field guide to the birds of New Zealand and outlying islands.
Falla, R(obert) A(lexander) (fl., 1935-1980). Reports of the B. A. N. Z. Antarctic Expedition. Series B. Volume II. Birds.
Feduccia, Alan. The age of birds.
Fehringer, Otto (1887-). Das kleine Buch der Greife Einheimische Raubvögel.
Fennessy, Réna (d. ca. 1989) (text by Brown, Leslie [Hilton, 1917-1980]). Birds of the African waterside.
Fennessy, Réna (d. ca. 1989) (text by Brown, Leslie [Hilton, 1917-1980]) Birds of the African bush.
Ferguson-Lees, James, and Emma Faull. Endangered Birds.
Ferguson-Lees, James and Christie, David A. Raptors of the world
Ffrench, Richard (illustrations by John P.(atton)[1942] O'Neill; portraits by Don Richard Eckelberry[1921-2001]. A guide to the birds of Trinidad and Tobago.
Finch-Davies, C(laude) G(ibney) (1875-1920). A Celebration of Birds.
Finch-Davies, C(laude) G(ibney) (1875-1920) Portfolio of South African Owls
Findlay, Dick and Bird, Allan. South African birds.
Finsch, (Friedrich Hermann) O(tto) (1839-1917). Zur Ornithologie der Südsee-Inseln.
Finsch, (Friedrich Hermann) O(tto) (1839-1917). On a Collection of Birds from North-Eastern Abyssinia....
Finsch, (Friedrich Hermann) O(tto)(1839-1917), Hartlaub (Carl Johann) G(ustav)(1814-1900). Beitrag zur Fauna Centralpolynesiens.
Fisher, Albert K. (1856-1948). The Hawks and Owls of the United States.
Flagg, Wilson (1805-1884). The Birds and Seasons of New England.
Flagg, Wilson (1805-1884). The Woods and By-Ways of New England.
Fleming, Robert L(eland)(1905-). Birds of Nepal.
Fleming, Robert Birds of Nepal (true first printing)
Floericke, Kurt (1869-1934). Dr. Kurt Floerickes Vogelbuch....
Forbes, William Alexander (1855-1883). In memoriam....
Forbes, James (1749-1819). Oriental Memoirs....
Forbush, Edward H(owe) (1858-1929) (Brasher, R. I., The Mentor). American Birds of Beauty.
Forbush, Edward H(owe) (1858-1929). Game Birds of America.
Forbush, Edward H(owe) (1858-1929) (Brasher, R. I., The Mentor) Our Feathered Friends.
Ford, Alice (editor) (1906-). The Bird Biographies of John James Audubon.
Forkner, B. (Audubon, J. J.) The Audubon portfolio
Forshaw, J. M(ichael), and W.T. Cooper. Turacos A Portfolio of all Species.
Forshaw, Joseph M(ichael). Australian Parrots.
Forshaw, Joseph M(ichael)(fl. late 20th century), and William T(homas) Cooper (illustrator) (1934-2015). Parrots of the World.
Forshaw, Joseph M(ichael), and William T(homas) Cooper (illustrator) (1934-2015). Kingfishers and related birds.
Forshaw, Joseph M(ichael), and William T(homas) Cooper (illustrator) (1934-2015). Australian Parrots.
Forshaw and Cooper, Australian Parrots, 2002 edition
Forshaw, Joseph M(ichael), and William T(homas) Cooper (illustrator) (1934-2015) Turacos A natural history of the Musophagidae
Forshaw, Joseph M(ichael), and William T(homas) Cooper (illustrator) (1934-2015) Pigeons and doves in Australia
Forster, Georg (1754-1794)Steiner, Gerhard and Baege, Ludwig) Vögel der Südsee 23 Gouachen und Aquarelle / nach Zeichnungen Georg Forsters, . entstanden während se iner / Weltumsegelung 1772 bis 1775
Foster, L. S. The Published Writings of George Newbold Lawrence.
Frade, F. Catalago das aves Moçambique
Fraipont, Julien (1857-1919). Collections Zoologiques....
Freeman, R(ichard) B(roke). British natural history books 1495-1900 a handlist.
Fremery, Petrus Johannes Isaäcus de (1797-1855). Specimen zoölogicum....
Friedmann, Herbert (1900-1987), et al. Distributional check-list of the birds of Mexico.
Fries, Waldemar H. (1889-). The Double / Elephant Folio the story of Audubon’s Birds of America.
Frisch, Johan Dalgas (1930-)(illustrated by Svend Frisch). Aves Brasileiras.
Frith, Clifford B, et al. The birds of paradise Paradisaeidae.
Frith, Clifford B. & Dawn W. The bowerbirds Ptilonorhynchidae
Frith, H.(arold) J.(ames)(1921-). Reader's Digest Complete book of Australian birds.
Fry, C. H., Fry, K., Harris, A. Kingfishers, bee-eaters & rollers
Fuertes, Louis Agassiz (1874-1927). Album of Abyssinian birds and mammals.
Fuertes, Louis Agassiz (1874-1927). (Collection of Prints of Game Birds).
Fuertes, Louis Agassiz (1872-1927) (Comstock, Anna Botsford[1854-1930]). (The Bird Notebook...).
Fuertes, Louis Agassiz (1874-1927)(Harry C. Oberholser1870-1963]; Edgar B. Kincaid Jr.) A Fuertes portfolio of Texas birds.
Fuertes, Louis Agassiz (1874-1927), Brooks, Allan (1869-1946) (Forbush, Edward Howe[1858-1929]). Portraits of New England birds.
Fuertes, Louis Agassiz (1874-1927)(edited by Marcham, Frederick George). Louis Agassiz Fuertes & the singular beauty of birds.
Fuertes, L. A. Impressions of the voices of tropical birds
Fuller, Errol Extinct birds
Fuller, Errol. The Lost Birds of Paradise.
Fuller, Errol (editor), Harris-Ching, Ray (paintings and drawings), Andrews, J. R. H. et al (text). A monograph of the family Apterygidae kiwis
Fulton, Robert (1765-1815) (edited by Wright, L. [1838-1908]). The Illustrated Book of Pigeons with Standards for Judging.
Falla, R.(obert Alexander)(1901-1979), R. B. Sibson, and E(van) G(raham) Turbott (illustrated by Chloë Talbot Kelly)
A field guide / to the birds of / New Zealand / and outlying islands 18.4 x 11.5 cm. [a]8B-Q8[$1 signed]; 128 ll. Pp. [1-10]11-254(2.blank). Original publisher's red cloth with gilt bird and lettering on spine. End paper maps. Pictorial dust jacket with original price of 36s on upper flap. London, Collins, 1966.
1, Half-title; 2, blank; 3, title; 4, copyright; printer designation: Collins Clear-Type Press, London and Glasgow; 5, contents; 8, blank; 9, list of plates; 10, map; 11, preface; 16, plumage of a bird with diagram; 17-240, systematic accounts, Apteryx australis-Turnagra capensis, comprising about 275 species; 241, section title; 243, acknowledgements; 244, bibliography (45 entries); 246, song chart for introduced European birds; 247, index of common and scientific names. Contains plates 1-18 (six colored), so numbered in list and on facing letter-press, printed in half-tone, the colored plates on one side only, the uncolored on both sides of six leaves. The facing letter-press for the plates contains running text on obverse and is included in pagination whereas the plates are not. Also contains about 50 unnumbered text line illustrations.
This work is something more than a field guide, particularly for endemic birds which are very comprehensively discussed. The avifauna of this area is remarkable in that only about 15% of the species are passerine and approximately half of these are introduced.
A second edition was published in 1970, a third in 1978 and there was a 1981 reprint with addenda. The first American edition was published a year later (1967) than this one.
First edition listed by AMNH, Cornell, Harvard, Trinity, Yale.
Falla, R(obert) A(lexander) (fl., 1935-1980)
Reports of the B. A. N. Z. Antarctic Expedition. Series B. Volume II. Birds 30 x 24.5 cm. Pp. (2, Half-title)[i-ii]iii-xvi[1]2-288; 153 ll. Binder's (L. H. Moon & Son) blue buckram, gilt lettering on spine, original tan printed wrappers bound in. Adelaide, B. A. N. Z. A. R. Expedition Committee, The Hassell Press, 20 August, 1937.
i, Volume title; ii, prefatory remarks by Sir Douglas Mawson (expedition commander); iv, contents; vii, list of illustrations; xiv, corrigenda; 1, introduction; 3, general account of the birds of the region; 31, systematic, with accounts of the species; 279, literature; 282, appendix 1, body measurements; 283,appendix 2, official collection of skins, eggs, skeletons of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-1914; 284, appendix 3, list of bird material of the B. A. N. Z. A. R. Expedition, 1929-1931; 286, index. Contains colored plates I (frontispiece)-IV after paintings by E. E. Reekie printed on one side only and not included in pagination. Also contains uncolored text figures 1-216, mostly photographs taken by R. Hurley and others during the first expedition and also including several maps.
This account covers the ornithological results from an antecedent expedition (1911-1914) that had never been published. Mawson, the commander of the later expedition, had also been a participant on the earlier one. Lists of species for various islands are given with the general account. The systematic part covers eight orders comprising 14 families and 69 species. For each species, specific data are provided concerning each collected individual including extensive measurements, sex, and time and place of collection. In addition, each species is accorded a section with extensive field notes. This is an extremely serious basic ornithological contribution.
The work is apparently rather uncommon. I found it listed under Falla for Cornell, Oxford and the Smithsonian but it was apparently absent from the on-line catalogs of AMNH, Berkeley Harvard, Library of Congress, Trinity and Yale.
The age of / birds 27.8 x 27.1 cm. Pp. [i-viii]ix[x-xii][1]2-196. Original publisher's black backed tan cloth with gilt lettering to spine. Pictorial dust jacket with original price of $20 on upper flap. Cambridge, Mass and London, England, Harvard University Press, 1980.
I half-title; ii, blank; iii, title; iv, copyright; ISBN 0-674-00975-4; v, dedication; vi blank; vii, contents; viii, blank; ix, preface; x, blank; xi, quotation from Darwin; xii, uncolored reproduction of painting of Archaeopteryx; 1, the feathered reptile; 25, the ancestry of birds; 61, toothed birds and divers; 83, shorebirds, ducks and waders; 103, evolution of flightlessness; 137, birds of prey; 151, the rise of land birds; 183, bibliography (about 200 entries); 189, index. Contains about 195 uncolored half-tone and line text illustrations of which perhaps 21 might be considered full-page. Many of these "illustrations" contain several figures or subjects, so enumeration is arbitrary.
This work deals with the origin of birds and the evolution and relationships of various taxonomic groups based on anatomic criteria.
Das / kleine Buch der Greife / einheimische Raubvögel Mit einem Geleitwort von Otto Fehringer. 18.0 x 12.0 cm. Pp. (4)[1-25]26-35[35-40. Original boards with flying raptor pattern design. Green-framed paper lettering piece on upper cover. Black lettering to upper cover and spine. Insel-Bücherei Nr. 515 (from lettering piece). Leipzig, Insel-Verlag, (no date, ? 1937 according to Yale).
First preliminary leaf: recto, sailboat logo (? Insel-Bücherei series logo); verso, blank; second: recto, title; verso, printed in Germany (so stamped); 1-24, plates 1-24; 25, Nachtrag (general essay on birds of prey); 30, explanation of plates with brief essay touching upon appearance, distribution, status in Germany, food, and nesting of each species; 36, printer designations: plates by H. F. Jütte, text by Poeschel & Trepte both of Leipzig; 37, section title for flight silhouettes; 38-40 flight silhouettes of the 18 diurnal raptors. Contains plates 1-24 printed in color half-tone on both sides of 12 leaves included in pagination.
This little book reproduces the 18 diurnal raptor and six owl plates from Wolf and Meyer's magnificent Naturgeschichte der Vögel Deutschlands…(Nürnberg, 1805[-1821]), of which only 16 copies are known. The copy from which the plates were reproduced was that in the Nürnberg city library, presumably a particularly fine example. These plates were hand-colored engravings with some aquatint, mostly after Ambrosius Gabler. They are accompanied here by a concise but informed text by Fehringer, the author of several popular works on birds and mammals.
The Insel-Bücherei series began about 1912 and by 2003 had reached publication number 1244. These small-format books concern diverse subjects. The Insel publishing firm relocated from Leipzig to Frankfurt a. M. sometime between 1946 and 1965.
Listed by Cornell, Yale. Not listed by AMNH, Harvard, Trinity.
Fennessy, Réna (d. ca. 1989) (text by Brown, Leslie [Hilton, 1917-1980])
Birds of the / African waterside 35.7 x 25.4 cm. Unpaginated. 56 Leaves as described below. Original publisher's beige faux leather with gilt lettering on spine. Salmon endpapers. Pictorial dust jacket with original price of £12.00 printed on upper flap. London, Collins, 1979.
First leaf: recto, half-title; verso, "by the same authors.."; sketch extending to title page.
Second leaf: recto, title; verso, dedication; "First published 1979"; ISBN 0 00 216 079 X; printed and bound by Poligrafici Calderara, Bologna.
Third leaf: recto-verso, contents enumerating plates 1-24, (30 species); acknowledgements.
Fourth leaf recto-seventh leaf recto, introduction including one uncolored sketch.
Eighth leaf: recto, half-title; verso, sketch of first species extending to first text page;
Ninth through 56th leaves: accounts of 30 species comprising 24 sections each with four pages comprising large (often full-page and/or extending to next page) uncolored half-tone sketch and colored plate on the verso of which is printed the first page dealing with the following species.
The complete work thus contains 24 colored plates, enumerated in contents and text only and 26 unnumbered uncolored sketches. The plates for the three-banded plover and the collared pratincole (but not their versos) have been transposed as if the printer thought the picture of one was that of the other.
This is the second of Mrs. Fennessy's fine suites of paintings, the first, Birds of the African bush (1975), having been printed in slightly larger but similar format to this one. The pictures are simply wonderful and convey movement, texture, ambiance, shape, color and posture with extraordinary effictiveness. There is one of Egyptian plovers on a shoreline with skimmers flying over the water that is so evocative I can actually hear the skimmers barking.
Listed by AMNH, Cornell, Trinity, not by Harvard and Yale.
Fennessy, Réna (d. ca. 1989) (text by Brown, Leslie [Hilton, 1917-1980])
Birds of the / African bush 39.3 x 29.3 cm. Unpaginated. 56 leaves as described below. Original publisher's bottle green faux leather, gilt lettering to spine. Apple green endpapers. Pictorial dust jacket with original price of £6.95 on upper flap. London, Collins, 1975.
First leaf: recto, half-title; verso, uncolored illustration continuous with next leaf.
Second leaf: recto, title; verso, "First published 1975"; ISBN 0 00 216069 2; printed and bound in Spain by E. Belgas, S. L., Ntra. Sra. de la Cabeza 2, Bilboa.
Third leaf: recto, dedication; verso, blank.
Fourth leaf: recto, acknowledgments; verso, blank.
Fifth leaf: recto-verso, contents enumerating species 1-24.
Sixth leaf: recto-seventh leaf verso, introduction.
Eighth leaf: recto, half-title; verso, first full-page sketch of species accounts.
Ninth through 56 the leaves: species accounts 1-24 with four pages devoted to each species including full-page uncolored half-tone sketch extending to first page of text, second page of text, and full-page color half-tone plate with uncolored sketch of next species on verso.
Contains a total of 24 colored plates and 25 full-page sketches extending to next page by Réna Fennessee.
This volume and the subsequent Birds of the African waterside (1979) are the two works in large format that exhibit Réna Fennessee's great skill as an artist who painted birds in their natural habitat. No one has captured better the ambiance of East Africa and the allure of its birds. The pictures in these two inexpensive books are amongst the finest ever done of African birds. Mrs. Fennessy was a protégé of John Williams whose Field Guide to the Birds of East and Central Africa (1963) she illustrated. Her large scale tableaux, as here, are much more successful than her field-guide style artwork.
This work is listed by AMNH, Cornell, Trinity but not by Harvard and Yale.
Ferguson-Lees, James and Faull, Emma
Endangered / Birds 26.9 x 20.5 cm. [1-6]7-192; 96 ll. Original publisher's ultramarine cloth with gilt lettering on spine, pictorial dust jacket and blue endpapers. London, George Phillip Limited, 1992.
1, Half-title; 2, blank; 3, title with colored vignette; 4, copyright, "Printed in Hong Kong"; 5, contents; 6, blank; 7, foreword by Gerald Durrell; 8, preface; 10, acknowledgements; 11, introduction; 16, nearctic region; 32, neotropical; 56, palearctic; 73, afrotropical; 98, malagasy; 118, indomalayan; 142, australasian; 164, pacific; 182, antarctic; 185, further reading; 186, index. Contains colored text map, colored title vignette and text figures of species 1-103, almost all colored, and 19 full-page, by Emma Faull.
This is an outstanding work of art and scholarship that seems to have escaped general notice. The author, a well regarded English ornithologist, divides the world into nine biogeographical areas including separate Pacific, Antarctic and Malagasy regions. For each, he summarizes the ecology as well as the indigenous and introduced birds and then cites those species that are endangered. Some of these are discussed in considerable detail and 103 of them have been beautifully depicted by Emma Faull who has a very distinctive and artistic style which emphasizes general form and color rather than minute detail.
Listed by Cornell Library but absent from AMNH, Harvard, Trinity, Yale.
Ferguson-Lees, James (author), Christie, David A. (author), Franklin, Kim (illustrator), Mead, David (illustrator) and Burton, Philip (illustrator)
Raptors / of the world 24.0 x 16.4 cm. Pp. [1-5]6-992. Original publisher’s brick red plain cloth with gilt lettering to spine. Pictorial dust jacket with printed original price of $60. Boston, New York, Houghton Mifflin, 2001.
1, Half-title; 2, blank; 3, title; 4, copyright 2001; published simultaneously in Great Britain by Christopher Helm, an imprint of A & C Black Ltd.; ISBN 0-618-12762-3;
LOC 2001024478; printed in Singapore; first printing; 5, contents; 6, list of species 1-312 including English, Latin names, page and plate numbers; 14, preface; 15, acknowledgements; 17, introduction; 20, using this book; 26, orders of raptor population sizes; 27, raptor topography; 31, measuring lengths and wingspans of raptors; 35, sex and age differences in sizes and shapes of raptors; 40, identifying raptors; 44, raptor migration; 50, raptor moult patterns and age criteria; 54, raptor vision, hearing and olfaction; 57, raptor plumages and external structure; 69, taxonomy, sequence and nomenclature of raptors; 76, English names of raptors; 80, color half-tone plates 1-112 with accompanying letter press and colored distribution maps, the former printed on recto, the corresponding letter-press on verso of preceding leaf, all included in pagination; 305, systematic accounts, Coragyps atratus-Falco fasciinucha, species 1-312; 926, bibliography (more than 3,000 references; 981, index of English and specific names. In addition to color plates 1-112, contains uncolored text illustrations 1-60. Identical distribution maps are shown for all species in the plate and text sections save they are uncolored in the latter.
This huge work replaces that of Brown and Amadon from the previous generation (1968). The species accounts include sections entitled Distribution; Movements; Habitat; Field Characters; Confusion Species; Voice; Food; Sociosexual Behaviour; Breeding; Population; Geographical Variation; Measurements; and References.
Ffrench, Richard (illustrations by John P(atton)[1942] O'Neill; portraits by Don Richard Eckelberry[1921-2001]
A guide to the birds of / Trinidad and Tobago 18.8 x 13.0 cm. Pp. [i-vii]vii-xix(1)1-470. Original publisher's brown cloth with black lettering on upper cover and spine. Endpaper maps. Pictorial dust jacket. Publication Number One of the Asa Wright Nature Center. Sponsored by the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, Livingston Publishing Company, (1973).
i, Half-title; ii, colored frontispiece of scarlet ibises extending to title page; iii, title; iv, copyright 1973; ISBN 0-87098-056-4; v, dedication to Jonnie Fisk; vi, blank; vii, contents; x, blank; xi, list of illustrations; xiv, blank; xv, foreword by Eckelberry; xvii, preface; 1, introduction including history, ecology; 37, section title for species accounts; 39-438(1), species accounts, Crypturellus soui-Spinus cucullatus, comprising around 400 species; 439, list of 172 Tobago species including 18 not on Trinidad list; 443, bibliography (about 250 entries); 455, index of English names; 463, scientific names; 468, vernacular names. Contains; color half-tone plates I-XXVIII by O'Neill with facing letter press from verso of antecedent leaf, the 29 leaves not included in pagination; eight unnumbered colored plates by Eckelberry printed on both sides of four unpaginated leaves; uncolored text figures 1-41 including 14 half-tone photographs of habitat, 25 half-tone bird figures by O'Neill, a line sketch of bird topography and a "histogram".
Trinidad has a neotropical rather than West Indian avifauna and is the place where many go in search of a manageable introduction to South American birds. When I went there in 1966, the only guide was G. A. C. Herklots's Birds of Trinidad and Tobago (1963), the illustrations of which were far from satisfactory. The present work is an immense improvement and is really a handbook masquerading as a field guide. The following information is given for each species: habitat and status; range and subspecies; description; measurements; voice; food; nesting; behavior; general notes. The excellent illustrations depict most of the birds. Those by Eckelberry are, and were intended to be decorative and only a single species is displayed on each of the plates for which he was responsible.
There was a revised edition of 1976 and a second edition of 1991 both under different imprints.
Listed by Cornell, Harvard, Trinity, Yale. AMNH lists only later editions.
Field, G.(eoffrey)D.(ingley)(1930-)(illustrations by Pauline Scull)
Birds of the / Freetown area 25.0 x 20.1 cm. Pp. PL, 1-41(1) then 42-51 numbered as individual leaves. Original publishers blue printed wrappers with blue gauze backstrip. Freetown, Sierra Leone, Fourah Bay College Bookshop, (1968).
PLr, title; PLv, copyright 1968; printed and bound by the Fourah Bay College Library, Freetown, Sierra Leone; 1, introduction dated March 1968; 5, list of birds by family; 14, notes on the various species; 42-51, ten leaves enumerated as such, printed on one side only and depicting 40 species in line drawings by Pauline Scull.
Geoffrey Fields was a Professor of Classics at Fourah Bay College in Freetown with whom I had the pleasure of birding in Gabon on a Birdquest tour in 1999. The present work may certainly be regarded as “pioneering” with respect to the bird life of Sierra Leone about which virtually nothing had been published prior to its appearance. Fields covers 227 species which he recorded around Freetown. He purposely omits species of the deep forest. The birds are first systematically listed with an indication of their abundance. An eclectic section of notes on the various families and species then follows. These notes are based virtually entirely on observations by Fields. Finally, there is a section of line drawings of 40 species by Pauline Scull.
The entire production was executed in Sierra Leone and the print run was doubtless quite small. The work is uncommon. It is listed by Yale but not by AMNH, Cornell, Harvard, or Trinity. OCLC locates 12 copies.
Finch-Davies, C(laude) G(ibney) (1875-1920)
A Celebration of Birds / C. G. Finch-Davies's final album of southern African birds 18.0 x 25.5 cm (oblong). Pp. Mostly (see below) unpaginated. 48 Leaves (96 pp.). Original publisher's beige cloth with brown lettering on spine. Colored pictorial dust jacket and slip case. Johannesburg, Natural History Books, 1990 (standard unnumbered edition).
[1], uncolored figure of white pelican; [2], blank; [3], half-title; [4], colored frontispiece (reversed duplicate of blacksmith plover illustrated in body of work); [5], title; [6], publication data; [7], foreword by Rex E. R. Banks of BM(NH) library; [8], photographic portrait of Finch-Davies; [9-17], biography by Alan Kemp; [18-62], facsimile of last album including 21 unnumbered colored plates and accompanying hand-written text; [63], publisher's note; [64-84], paginated 1-21, black and white reproductions of the colored plates with printed, instead of hand-written text; 85, end-piece; 86, list of subscribers for various editions; 96, end-piece. All leaves printed on both sides.
Finch-Davies (probably) committed suicide after having been caught stealing ornithological illustrations from the Transvaal Museum in Pretoria. Before his death, he had entered into a legal agreement with the Museum whereby he gave them all save one of his notebooks containing almost all of his paintings. There was a stipulation that these were not to be reproduced for at least 50 years. Thus, with a few minor exceptions, the only extant illustrations by this great ornithological portraitist were those published in Boyd Horsbrugh's highly regarded Game Birds and Waterfowl of South Africa (London, 1912). Starting in 1976, the ornithologist Alan Kemp, of the Transvaal Museum, arranged for the reproduction of Finch-Davies paintings in a series of books that brought the artist the recognition he has always deserved. He is certainly amongst the best of all ornithological illustrators. Most of the paintings were at the Transvaal Museum but the last album containing 21 (of more than 1000) had been given by the widow to the British Museum in 1923. That album, in its entirety, is reproduced here. Of the 21 plates it contains, 14 had already been reproduced in Kemp's antecedent reprises. Seven, three hornbills, two flamingos, a black stork and a gannet, have not, to the best of my knowledge, been previously published. The color printing of all the pictures was done anew for this volume and there are interesting subtle differences from those that had been published before.
Present in on-line catalogs of Cornell, Trinity and Yale, but not those of Harvard and the AMNH.
Finch-Davies, Claude Gibney (1875-1920)
Portfolio of South African owls 35.0 x 29.7 cm. A printed card portfolio containing 13 leaves, including one of text and 12 unnumbered partially colored half-tone prints. Pretoria, Transvaal Museum (ca. 1990)
These beautiful prints were issued previously in The birds of prey of southern Africa (1980) by Kemp and Finch-Davies but they are printed here on larger paper and appear even more striking. The twelve figures are colored whereas the minimal foregrounds are not. The single explanatory leaf is printed in sepia in English on one side and Africana on the other. It provides a brief note on each of the 12 owls as well as a short biography of Finch-Davies who died in 1920, in some disgrace for having stolen prints of birds from books in the Transvaal Museum. An agreement was reached that included a clause forbidding reproduction of his paintings for 50 years after his death. The rehabilitation of his artistic reputation was begun by Alan Kemp in 1976 and resulted in the appearance of several unusually attractive books.
The present suite seems to be very uncommon. OCLC locates only two copies.
South African / birds / 12 colour plates / first series first printing (from upper cover of portfolio) 34.3 x 24.2 cm. Pp. Two unnumbered conjugate leaves of text. Maintained loose in beige card portfolio with mounted colored plate (18.4 x 17.5 cm) and brown lettering on upper cover. Johannesburg, South African Society of Natural History Publication Company (Pty) Limited, 1959 (from last page of text).
First-second recto unpaginated leaves: introduction, brief descriptive letter-press for each species by Bird; second leaf verso: index; first published 1959; publisher designation as above; printer designation: The Swan Press Limited, Johannesburg. Contains loose colored plates 1-12, 24.6 x 20.3 cm, each displaying a single species, printed on one side only directly in sunken panels.
According to Bird in a later publication, 2000 copies of this suite of plates were printed and we may assume that most of them were broken up so that complete sets are probably quite uncommon. Bird was a neurologist-bird lover turned publisher. The plates for this work were printed in sunken panels on mat paper with the figures of the birds and the foreground in color, the distant backgrounds uncolored, an effective presentation. The printing is rather poor, however, and some of the images are hazy. The species were selected as examples of birds that could be seen within the city of Johannesburg.
Listed by Cornell, Harvard, Trinity, Yale. Not listed by AMNH.
Zur Ornithologie der Südsee-Inseln Two parts, ragged and uncut (34.0 x 26.3 cm) in plain brown wrappers stamped by dealer (E. Friedländer & Sohn).
I. Die Vögel der Palau-Gruppe 1-6472[$1 signed]; 26 ll. Pp. [1]2-51(1, initial page of unrelated article). Pp. 133-184 (at base of pages and presumably pagination of journal volume as opposed to individual article). Composed entirely of text with no separate title leaf nor other preliminary. Contains Tafeln 1-6, the first five being chromolithographs printed by H. Wernicke after drawings by Keulemans, the last being an uncolored anatomical lithograph printed by Mintern Bros. imp after a drawing by G. H. Ford. Journal des Museum Godeffrey, Heft VIII, L. Friedrichsen & Co. (Hamburg, 1875).
II. Über neue und wenige gekannte Vögel / von den / Viti-, Samoa- und Carolinen-Inseln [1]42-54[$1 signed]; 21 ll. Pp. [1-3]4-42. Contains separate title leaf, 11, but no other preliminaries. Contains chromolithographed Tafeln 1 and 2 by Wernicke after Keulemans. Journal des Museum Godeffrey, Heft XII, L. Friedrichsen & Co. (Hamburg, 1876).
The second part is certainly an offprint, as opposed to an extract, since it contains a separate title leaf and is paginated from the title page. The first part lacks a separate title leaf and has the beginning of an unrelated article on the verso of its last leaf. Whereas these characteristics might suggest an extract, its dual pagination indicates an offprint.
Finsch was one of the most highly regarded of German ornithologists during the late 19th century. He was an early author on the ornithologies of German territories in Africa, and the South Sea Islands, the latter being the subject of the present rare and valuable contribution. He was also known for a widely praised monograph on Parrots.
BM(NH), p. 573 (Part I only); Feathers to Brush, p. 57; Martin, 1577(journal); Wood, p. 413 (journal). Both monograph and journal absent from Trinity, Yale, Zimmer. OCLC locates seven copies.
Finsch, (Friedrich Hermann) O(tto) (1839-1917)
On a Collection of Birds from North-Eastern Abyssinia and the Bogos Country. / With notes by the Collector, William Jesse (from first page of article). 32.0 x 25.5 cm. 2F-2Y 4[$1, 2 signed]; 68 ll. Pp. 197-331(1). Later quarter blue blind-ruled calf and marbled boards. Spine with six raised bands, blind floral decoration in all seven compartments. Gilt blue calf lettering piece on upper cover. Transactions / of / The Zoological Society / of London / Vol. VII.-Part 4. / London, for the Society ///1870 (from upper wrapper).
197, introduction; 199-305, systematic accounts, Vultur fulvus-Hydrochelidon fissipes, 221 species; 305, appendix I, account of voyage by Jesse; 312, appendix II, supplemental remarks by Finsch written almost one year later and including information from Blanford's contemporary expedition; 331, description of plates here numbered XXIII-XXVII whereas in Arabic on plates themselves. Contains plate 23 an uncolored folding map with the route marked in red by J. Arrowsmith; plates 24-27, hand-colored lithographs of birds with uncolored backgrounds drawn and lithographed by J. Smit, printed by M. & N. Hanhart imp.
This is an offprint with its own wrappers but without separate title or pagination. The expedition covered an area that had a rather rich ornithological history beginning with Ehrenberg and Hemprich and a little later, Rüppell. However, amongst the 735 skins collected by Jesse were those of two new species, a shrike and a lark.
The plates by Smit are exceptionally good.
Wood, p. 341. The Transactions of the Zoological Society of London, in which this article appeared, is present in most major ornithological libraries or collections.
Finsch, (Friedrich Hermann) O(tto)(1839-1917), Hartlaub (Carl Johann)G.(ustav)(1814-1900)
Beitrag / zur / Fauna Centralpolynesiens. / Ornithologie / der / Viti-, Samoa- und Tonga-Inseln 25.1 x 16.0 cm. [a]8b8c41-178188(+1)[$1, 2 signed];165 ll. Pp. [i-v]v-xxix[xl][1]2-290. Contemparary half-sheep and marbled boards. Tan endpapers (renewed ?). Halle, H. W. Schmidt, 1867.
i, Title; ii, blank; iii, dedication to Johann Cesar Godeffroy; iv, blank; v, preface; vii, introduction; xxxi, table on overall distribution of 172 central Pacific species; xl, abbreviations; 1-265, systematic accounts of 99 species, Haliaëtus leucogaster-Tachypetes aquilus; 269, appendix of discarded species; 273, Nachtrag, additional late notes; 281, description of plates; 283, index of scientific names; 290, printing errors and corrections. Contains plates I-XIV of birds (9) and eggs (5) drawn and lithographed by Finsch.
This work was based chiefly on a collection made by a Swiss, Eduard Gräffe, under the sponsorship and financial support of Johan Cesar Godeffroy, a wealthy native of Hamburg with an interest in the central Pacific and its natural history. It provides a detailed account of 91 species including synonymy/bibliography; diagnosis in Latin; a description with measurements; and whatever else the authors could glean from the literature. There is an interesting table that shows the island and further distribution for 172 species that are found in various central Pacific islands, some, like the Hawaiian Islands, not within the direct purview of the book.
The authors were each major figures in German ornithology. Hartlaub was an early authority on African birds and Finsch wrote a highly regarded monograph on parrots, the first comprehensive treatise on the birds of Madagascar, and several important articles about African birds.
Finsch was also something of an artist but the pictures in this work are poor. Anker (#141) quotes Finsch from a later publication saying of these plates "Die von mir gemalten Bilder wurden meist sehr mittelmässig und schlecht wiedergeben."
Wood, p. 341; Zimmer, p. 219. Also listed by AMNH, Cornell, Harvard, Trinity, Yale.
The Hawks and Owls of the United States in their Relation to Agriculture 23 x 15 cm. Blank[1]82-138142(including final blank)[$1, signed]; 107 ll. Pp. Blank[1-2]3[4]5-7[8]9-210blank. Original maroon cloth. Washington, Government Printing Office, 1893. U. S. Department of Agriculture, Division of Ornithology and Mammalogy, Bulletin No. 3.
[1], title; [3], letter of transmittal; 5, contents; 7, illustrations; 9, text; 203, index. Contains 26 chromolithographic plates after John and Robert Ridgway.
In the second half of the nineteenth century, a considerable quantity of scholarly ornithological work was published by the United States Government, a tradition still maintained through the Smithsonian Institute. That published by the Department of Agriculture was apparently commissioned by C. Hart Merriam who held a civil service position there. W. W. Cooke’s well known treatise on migration was the antecedent volume to this one in the series that Merriam solicited. The present highly-regarded work represents an extraordinarily complete account of the eating habits of North American hawks and owls as deduced from the contents of their stomachs. The illustrations are nice and are supposed to serve not only for this work but also for Baird, Brewer and Robert Ridgway’s great treatise on North American birds which specifically lacks colored plates for these groups.
There was a similar emphasis in Europe at this time on the “economic value” of birds. This judgment related to whether their food consisted of material considered undesirable by man, such as rodents or insects, or desirable, like poultry or corn. Birds that ate undesirable material were economically valuable, whereas those that ate desirable material were “harmful”. The words in German were “nützlich” and “schädlich”.
Trinity, p. 88; Wood, p. 342; Zimmer, p. 221. Absent from Yale catalogue.
The / Birds and Seasons / of / New England 20.0 x 14.0 cm. π4A-BB8CC6(-CC6)[$1, 5 signed]; 233 ll (26 letter alphabet). Pp. [i-v]vi[vii-viii]1-457(1). Original green cloth with gilt lettering on spine, gilt fern and black panel designs on upper cover. AEG. Boston, James R. Osgood and Company, 1875.
i, Title; ii, copyright and "University Press: Welsh, Bigelow & Company, Cambridge" designation; iii, dedication to "Samuel P. Fowler, Esq."; iv, blank; v, introduction; vii, list of illustrations; 1, text; 453, index (mainly of bird names in English and Latin). Contains twelve unnumbered, uncolored photogravure plates not included in pagination.
This is a series of essays concerned with the natural history of New England. The author, an excellent writer, was very knowledgeable about birds and discusses diverse aspects of almost 100 species at some length. Coues (first installment, p. 712) has high praise for the work, considering it a "delightful treatise".
The illustrations show landscapes including roads and houses. They are of interest as representing extremely early photographic illustrations to embellish a book devoted to natural history. Kennedy's work, The Birds of Berkshire…(1868) is usually considered to be the first contain photographs of birds. We are told that these plates were "Printed by the Heliotype Process, after Views from Nature" (p. vii).
I am intrigued by the author's use of the term "turnpike" which I had previously thought referred only to roads used by motorized vehicles.
Trinity, p. 89; Wood, p. 343; Yale, p. 96; Zimmer, p. 223.
The / Woods and By-Ways / of / New England 20.0 x 14.0 cm. π9A-AA8BB6(-BB6); [$1 signed, 26 letter alphabet]; 230 ll. Pp. [i-iii]iv-xviii1-442. Original publisher's green cloth with black floral panel design, gilt tree on upper cover, gilt lettering and fern on spine. AEG. Chocolate endpapers. Boston, James R. Osgood and Company, 1872
i, Title; ii, copyright and printer's designation: University Press: Welch, Bigelow & Co., Cambridge; iii, dedicatory epistle; vii, to the reader; ix, domestic scenery of New England; xvii, list of illustrations;1, text; 437, index (of trees). Contains uncolored heliotype (collotype) photographic plates I-XXII, so numbered and identified only in the list of illustrations, printed on one side only and not included in pagination.
Flagg was a superb writer and a very able naturalist who apparently shunned publicity. Whereas he published a highly regarded similar book on birds, The Birds and Seasons of New England, in 1875, the present work is concerned mainly with trees. However, like the later book on birds, it contains heliotype (collotype) reproductions of photographs and is said to be the first American publication with illustrations produced by this technique. In both works, the author is concerned much more with verbal expression of the feelings evoked by nature than with scientific descriptions of birds or trees. His works are of the same genre as those of Thoreau and Burroughs and he writes just as well as either of these better known authors. In this work, he provides the reader with considerable information about the various trees of New England but this information is subjugated to a verbal picture of the New England countryside as he enjoys seeing it.
This is not a rare book and is present in the catalogs of Cornell, Harvard, Trinity and Yale. An edition appeared in 1881 under the Estes and Lauriat imprint.
Fleming, Robert L(eland)(1905-) Sr., Fleming, Robert L., Jr. and Bangdel, Lain Singh (1925-) (foreword by Elvis J. Stahr; illustrations by Hem Poudyal, Hira Lal Dangol with Robert L. Fleming Jr., and Margaret Fleming Waldron and Linda Firth Fleming)
Birds / of / Nepal / with reference to Kashmir and Sikkim 18.0 x 11.3 cm. Pp. [1-4]5-349(1). Original maroon cloth with orange lettering on upper cover and spine. Endpaper maps. Pictorial dust jacket. Kathmandu, Robert Fleming Sr. and Jr., 1976. 1, Half-title; 2, colored photographic frontispiece; 3, title; 4, "First Edition, 1976"; printed by Arun K. Mehta at Vakil and Sons Ltd, Bombay; 5, dedication to Bethel Harris Fleming, M. D.; quotations; 6, list of sponsors and contributors; 7, foreword by Elvis J. Stahr, president of the National Audubon Society; 8, colored photographic plate; 9, introduction; 19, acknowledgements; 21, contents; 24, systematic accounts, Podiceps cristatus-Melophus lathami, comprising 741 species; 321, bibliography (54 entries); 325, appendix of Kashmir birds not known from Nepal; 327, appendix of Sikkim birds not known from Nepal; 329, index of scientific names; 337, index and check list of English names. Contains about 150 unnumbered plates printed on recto in color half-tone (two photographic) with facing letter press printed on verso of antecedent plate, all included in pagination.
The Fleming family, by publishing this book, was responsible for the popularity of Nepal as a destination for bird watchers in the late 20th century. They also contributed greatly over many years to the knowledge of Nepal's bird life. Organizing and publishing privately and locally this more than adequate western-style guide must have been difficult.
A second edition was published in 1979, no longer privately. A few copies of the first edition contain an extra leaf with a message from the King of Nepal. That leaf is not called for on the contents page and is not included in the pagination. It is not present here.
This edition listed by Cornell, Harvard, Trinity, Yale but not listed by AMNH.
Robert L. Fleming Jr., and Margaret Fleming Waldron and Linda Firth Fleming)
Birds / of / Nepal / with reference to Kashmir and Sikkim 18.0 x 11.3 cm. Pp. [1-4](2)5-349(1). Original maroon cloth with orange lettering on upper cover and spine. Endpaper maps. Pictorial dust jacket. Kathmandu, Robert Fleming Sr. and Jr., 1976.
1, Half-title; 2, colored photographic frontispiece; 3, title; 4, "First Edition, 1976"; printed by Arun K. Mehta at Vakil and Sons Ltd, Bombay; inserted leaf “ Message from His Majesty / King Barendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev”; 5, dedication to Bethel Harris Fleming, M. D.; quotations; 6, list of sponsors and contributors; 7, foreword by Elvis J. Stahr, president of the National Audubon Society; 8, colored photographic plate; 9, introduction; 19, acknowledgements; 21, contents; 24, systematic accounts, Podiceps cristatus-Melophus lathami, comprising 741 species; 321, bibliography (54 entries); 325, appendix of Kashmir birds not known from Nepal; 327, appendix of Sikkim birds not known from Nepal; 329, index of scientific names; 337, index and check list of English names. Contains about 150 unnumbered plates printed on recto in color half-tone (two photographic) with facing letter press printed on verso of antecedent plate, all included in pagination. This copy signed on half-title by “Dr Bob”(Fleming) to “Dale, Elsie and Carol Fleming”
The Fleming family, by publishing this book, was responsible for the popularity of Nepal as a destination for bird watchers in the late 20th century. They also contributed greatly over many years to the knowledge of Nepal's bird life. Organizing and publishing privately and locally this more than adequate western-style guide must have been difficult.
A second edition was published in 1979, no longer privately. This copy is one of the very few of the first edition that contains an extra leaf with a message from the King of Nepal and is, thus, a true first printing. That leaf is not called for on the contents page and is not included in the pagination. I have another copy of the first edition in which it is not present. The presentation of this copy is also special.
First edition listed by Cornell, Harvard, Trinity, Yale but not listed by AMNH.
Dr. Kurt Floerickes Vogelbuch/ Gemeinverständliche Naturgeschichte/ der mitteleuropäischen Vogelwelt/ für/ Forst- und Landwirte, Jäger, Naturfreunde und/ Vogelliebhaber, Lehrer und die reisere Jugend/ und für alle Gebildeten des deutschen Volkes/ Mit 50 (sic) Tafeln in Buntdruck nach Original-Aquarellen/ von Karl Neunzig/ Zweite, bedeutend vermehrte, gänzlich/ umgearbeitete und neu illustrierte Auflage 250 x 178 mm. [1]82-318[$1 signed]; 248 ll. Pp. [1-7]8-496. Original linen with blue papered sides, the upper cover containing a mounted colored plate depicting a birdy marsh. Stuttgart, Franckh’sche Verlagshandlung, Wiesbaden, Pestalozzi Verlagsanstalt, 1922.
1, Half-title; 3,title; 5, foreword to first edition dated 1907; 6, foreword to this (second) edition dated 1921; 7, generalities; 132, family and species accounts; 473, explanation of three egg plates; 476, explanation of pellet plate; 478, important literature; 484, index; 495, contents; 496, additions and corrections, . Contains photographic frontispiece portrait of the author, and plates I-LIV, including 50 colored plates of birds, three colored plates of eggs and one uncolored plate of pellets. Also contains text figures 1-99.
The first edition of this book was published in 1907 and contained a text quite similar to this edition but only 30 colored plates, which were by a different artist. Neunzig’s 53 plates for this edition are quite good. They were reproduced by what seems a hybrid of offset and chromolithography much like those in Frank Chapman’s Birdlife. Each plate contains a designation of Kosmos of Stuttgart and of Pestalozzi of Wiesbaden. Interestingly, the title page calls for 50, instead of 53, colored plates. The Trinity catalogue cites a 1924 edition that sounds identical to this one save that 53 is substituted for 50 on the title leaf.
This is a good handbook on the birds of Central Europe. Zimmer remarks that the author occasionally makes up his own names and classifications but this seems to have been from conviction rather than ignorance. One fault with the book is the low quality of the paper used in its production which has resulted in browning and acidification of the leaves.
Trinity, p. 90; Wood, p. 344; Yale, p. 97; Zimmer, p. 224.
Forbes, William Alexander (1855-1883) ( edited by Beddard, F.(rank)E.(vers)(1858-1925) (preface by Sclater, P.(hilip)L.(utley)(1829-1913)
In memoriam / the collected / scientific papers / of the late / William Alexander Forbes, M. A. 25.4 x 16.8 cm. [A]8B-2I8[$1, 2 signed]; 256 ll. Pp. [i-v]vi-xiii[xiv-xv](1)[1]2-496. Later half blind-ruled brown calf and marbled boards. Spine with five blind and gilt-ruled raised bands, gilt lettering in second compartment. Fore- and lower edges uncut and partly deckled. London, R. H. Porter, 1885.
I, Title; ii, printer's imprint: Taylor and Francis; iii, contents of preliminaries; iv, blank; v, preface by P. L. Sclater; vi, wood-engraving of Forbes's grave; vii, list of (about 121) subscribers; xi, contents; xv, list of plates; 1, collection of 67 articles and a diary; 479, index; 496, printer designation. Contains: etched uncolored frontispiece portrait of Forbes after H. H. Johnston; lithographed plates I-XXV including 15 hand-colored, drawn and lithographed by J. Smit, printed by Hanhart; and approximately 140 uncolored text wood engravings, enumerated with respect to the articles in which they appear.
Forbes, an anatomist by training, died in Africa when only 27 years old. He was a member of the Zoological Society under whose auspices this collection of 67 articles (43 ornithological) and a diary was prepared. Most of the articles had been published in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society, The Ibis, and the Zoology of the Challenger Expedition. It is extraordinary that he was able to place so many of them in such prestigious journals at such a young age. Many, but by no means all, are devoted to anatomy. Of the 25 plates, four are colored birds, five colored mammals and six colored anatomical studies showing muscles and tendon insertions. The remaining 10 uncolored plates are mainly anatomical and most depict various structures of petrels. The plates are enumerated in Roman numerals specifically for this volume at their upper left and the page size is larger than that used for the Proceedings and The Ibis so they seem to have been specially printed for this work presumably from the original stones.
It is ironic that Forbes was himself the editor in 1881 of a similar "In memoriam" volume devoted to his mentor, A. H. Garrod.
Wood, p. 345; Zimmer, p. 225. Not listed by AMNH, Cornell, Harvard, Trinity, Yale.
Oriental Memoirs: / Selected and Abridged from / Seventeen Years Residence in India: / Including / Observations / on Parts of Africa and South America / and / a Narrative of Occurrences in Four India Voyages Four volumes. 29.8 x 24.0 cm. Fine full mottled calf with ornamental gilt roll design panel surrounding gilt three rule panel with corner decorations. Spine with five gilt-ruled and decorated raised bands, gilt red and black morocco lettering pieces respectively in second and fourth compartments, extensive gilt decorations in first and last compartments, gilt panel and corner designs with central blind decoration in third and fifth. Skillfully rebacked with original spine retained. Gilt-ruled dentelles. Marbled endpapers. Marbled edges. London, White, Cochrane, and Co., 1813
The complete work contains 93 plates of which 28 colored including 10 of birds.
Vol. I. [a]2b4c2B-3P43Q2(-3Q2)[$1 signed]; 255 ll. Pp. (4)[i]ii-xxiii(1)[1-5]6-482. a1r, Half-title; a1v, quotations; a2r, title; a2v, blank; i-iii, dedication; iv, blank; v, preface; xv, contents; 1-481, narrative; 482, printer designation: London, T. Bensley. Contains 41 unnumbered plates including frontispiece portrait of author, of which 31 uncolored engravings; 10 colored plates including eight aquatints by William Hooker after Hooker and Forbes and two hand-colored lithographs after, and probably by Forbes.
Vol. II. [a]2b4c2B-3Y43Z4(-3Z4); 279 ll. Pp. [i-v]vi-xv(1)[1-5]6-542. I, Half-title; ii, quotations; iii, title; iv, blank; v, contents; 1-542, narrative; 542, printer's designation. Contains 17 uncolored engraved plates, 10 aquatint colored plates, nine by Hooker and Forbes related to natural history and one of scenery engraved by Bate.
Vol. III. [a]2b4B-3Q4; 250 ll. Pp. [i-v]vi-xii[1-5]6-487(1). i, Half-title; ii, quotations; iii, title; iv, blank; v, contents; 1-487, narrative; 487, printer designation. Contains 12 uncolored engraved plates, three uncolored lithographic plates by Forbes and five colored plates of which thee hand-colored lithographs of flowers by Forbes, one colored aquatint by Hooker and Forbes and one colored facsimile of an inlay at the Taj Majal.
Vol. IV. [a]2b4B-3I4; 222 ll. Pp. [i-v]vi-xi(1)[1-5]6-425[426-432]. i, Half-title; ii, quotation; iii, title; iv, blank; v, contents;1-349(1), narrative; 351, explanation of plates which only here are enumerated I-XCIII; 381, index; 427, errata; 429, instructions to binder re plate placement. Contains two uncolored engraved plates and three colored aquatint plates by Hooker and Forbes.
Forbes's Oriental Memoirs is one of the great antiquarian books about India, replete with reminiscences from the last third of the 18th century and always a great favorite amongst orientalists. Most of the plates in this work were drawn by Forbes who was a fine artist and captured very well the ambiance and exotic quality of India. However, my interest in the work has to do with its ornithological illustrations which portray South American as well as Indian birds because Brazil was a stopping point on the way to India.
The great importance and originality of this work from the perspective of ornithological and botanical iconography is well recognized by scholars but deserves to be more widely known. The colored plates are almost all of Natural History subjects including birds and plants. Five of them are lithographs by Forbes that have been colored by hand. The two of these that depict birds are not only the first colored lithographs of birds to be published but I believe they are the first lithographed depictions of birds. The three of plants must also be very early representatives of the genre as well. These lithographed plates have a rather crude appearance that suggests their very early origin in the evolution of the technique.
The aquatint colored plates are another story and, although they carry the names of both William Hooker and Forbes, must surely have been mainly the work of the former, though perhaps inspired by the latter. Hooker, not to be confused with the botanist Sir W. J. Hooker, was a pupil of Francis Bauer and became official artist of the Horticultural Society of London. He was a superb artist and printmaker. As far as I know, the ornithological pictures in this book are his only published depictions of birds. Of these 10 plates, at least two, the Blue Banana Bird and the Taylor Birds, are color-printed and finished by hand. The others are hand-colored. Colored prints of birds in aquatint are unusual, the best known example being the Audubon folio which was hand-colored. However, published aquatints of birds that have been printed in color are of exceptional rarity. The two plates here are almost certainly the first such examples. Indeed, the only other ones of which I know are the two plates by J. F. Naumann for his Über den Haushalt der Nordischen Seevögel (1824). Almost all the colored engravings of botanical subjects in this book are also color-printed aquatints since this was Hooker's preferred method, however, I believe the technique was in fairly widespread use amongst botanical printmakers at the time. The "Blue Banana Bird at Rio de Janeiro on a sprig of the Guava Tree" shows its brightly colored subject in dynamic activity amongst exquisite blossoms and fruits and, in my view, is among the finest ornithological prints of its era and may well have served as an inspiration to Descourtilz when he later produced his beautiful books on Brazilian birds.
A second edition of this book was published in 1834.
This work is not extremely rare but it may not be considered an ornithological book and thus be lacking in some major ornithological collections.
Wood, p. 345. Also listed by Cornell, Harvard, Yale, but not by AMNH, Trinity, Zimmer.
Forbush, Edward Howe (1858-1929) (Brasher, R. I., The Mentor)
American Birds / of Beauty 25.0 x 17.5 cm (plates 24.1 x 17.8) Pp. [1]2-12; 6 ll. Original brown decorated printed wrappers. The Mentor Vol. 1, No. 16, June 2, 1913. New York, The Associated Newspaper School, Inc., 1913.
1, blue jay; 4, baltimore oriole; 6, cedar waxwing; 7, scarlet tanager; 8, snowy heron; 10, wood duck; 12, supplementary reading. Contains six unnumbered colored plates after R. I. Brasher laid in loosely. The versos of these plates are blank. Also contains 10 unnumbered text photographs.
The Mentor was a magazine of high quality that flourished from 1913 through the 20s. Early issues consisted of only a single article. The publication was largely concerned with travel and the arts and sciences, and there were at least three issues that contained colored plates and were devoted to birds. This was the first. The later ones, also written by Forbush, were Game Birds of America (6 October, 1913) and Our Feathered Friends (May 15, 1914). The text for these articles describes life histories of various species and is written at a popular, anecdotal level. The present article is devoted to six species selected on the basis of their beauty.
The most interesting part of these articles is their colored plates. In the present article, these are by Rex Brasher and they are amongst the first of his pictures to be published. Four of them appeared unchanged in his later magnum opus, Birds and Trees of North America (1929-1932). However, those showing the scarlet tanager and wood duck are completely different from the later depictions and may be unique to this work. The color printing for these plates is a good as I have seen in an American trade volume. It was done by fine offset lithography and reminds me of the work of John Bale & Danielsson in England. The plates differ in quality from those in the subsequent Game Birds of America in that they are printed on mat paper rather than card and are done by offset rather than by the standard photomechanical method that was used for the four-color prints in the later work.
These ornithological publications in The Mentor are absent from most ornithological bibliographies and I was unable to find this one in any of the usual printed and on-line catalogs that I consult. However, The Mentor was not a rare journal and the scarcity is probably more apparent than real and due to the fact that the works appeared as part of a periodical. The articles in The Mentor remind me of those written by Henshaw and illustrated by Fuertes in contemporary issues of the National Geographic. The latter certainly had a bigger circulation. Moreover, the ornithological articles from the National Geographic were subsequently published separately in book form and it is the latter format that is cited in bibliographies.
Forbush, Edward H(owe) (1858-1929)
Game Birds / of America 24.0 x 17.6 cm. Pp.[1]2-11(12, editorial page of The Mentor). Contemporary buckram-backed, machine marbled boards. Speckled edges, original brown printed wrappers included. The Mentor, Vol. 1, October 6, 1913. New York, Mentor Association, 1913.
1-13, text. Contains six colored, unnumbered plates on thick card after Louis Agassiz Fuertes. The verso of each plate contains anecdotal descriptive letter-press for the depicted species written by the editorial staff of The Mentor. Also contains 17 unnumbered text photographic illustrations.
This issue of the first year of an intellectual magazine, The Mentor, is devoted entirely to six species of game birds, Ruffed Grouse, Bob White, Wild Turkey, Canada Goose, Mallard and Canvasback. Forbush treats their life histories at a popular, non-technical anecdotal level. A text in similar style is on the back of each of the colored illustrations which are referred to as "intaglio gravure pictures..". This text is "Copyright 1913, by The Mentor Association, Inc.", whereas the actual plates are "Copyrighted by Louis Agassiz Fuertes, 1906". These pictures look as though they are sections cropped from larger paintings. This is definitely the case for the Bob White which was reproduced in 1932 for The Birds of Minnesota by Thomas Roberts. The illustration in that book has peripheral scenery that is lacking in the present example. I know that these six pictures were not amongst those by Fuertes in Eaton's Birds of New York or in Birds of Massachusetts… by Forbush but whether they first appeared in the present work or elsewhere, I don't know.
This work appears to be either uncommon or overlooked. It is not listed in the Yale, McGill, Ayer, Trinity or Thayer collections, nor in the Braislin or Gallatin auction catalogs. It is also not listed in the online catalogs for Harvard University and the American Museum. The only place in which I was able to locate a copy was the online catalog of Cornell University.
Forbush, Edward Howe (1858-1929)(Brasher, R. I., The Mentor)
Our Feathered / Friends 25.0 x 17.6 cm (plates 24.3 x 17.8). Pp. [1]2-11[12]; 6 ll. Original decorated printed brown wrappers. The Mentor, Vol. 2, No. 7, May 15, 1914. New York, the Mentor Association Inc., 1914.
1, Robin; 2, brown thrasher; 3, barn swallow; 5, mockingbird; 7, red-headed woodpecker; 8, song sparrow; 10, how birds befriend us; 11, supplementary reading. Contains six unnumbered colored plates by Brasher loosely laid in. Also contains 14 unnumbered uncolored text photographs.
This article resembles closely in style and format the other two in the series started with that of 2 June 1913 also written by Forbush and with colored illustrations by Brasher. In each case, the article comprises and entire issue of the journal. The text is sentimental, unsystematic, and not obviously informative. Unlike those in the first article, the plates here contain text on their versos. Although written by "the staff of the Mentor Association" this text suffers from the same drawbacks as that by Forbush. This issue of The Mentor contrasts with that of 2 June 1913 in that the design of the wrapper is slightly different and the price is indicated as 15 instead of 10 cents.
For further information on these publications in The Mentor, the reader is referred to notes on the two previous articles by Forbush in the magazine.
The / Bird Biographies / of / John James Audubon 25.0 x 17.6 cm. Pp. [i-iv]v-xv(1)1-282; 149 ll. Original publisher's black-backed turquoise buckram, silver lettering on spine. Pictorial dust jacket. New York, Macmillan, 1957.
i, Half-title; ii, Macmillan designation; iii, title; iv, copyright; v, editor's foreword; xi, contents; xiii, illustrations; 1, text; 271, present ranges of species mentioned; 281, bibliography. Contains 12 colored plates printed on one side only and not included in pagination.
Alice Ford was an authority on the life and works of Audubon. In this work, she excerpted and edited biographies of 80 species from the Ornithological Biography and the Audubon octavo, in some instances combining various parts of the accounts and apparently reediting William MacGillivarry's initial editing. The most interesting and novel aspect of the book are the 12 plates which are reproductions of pastels and water colors of originals from the Harvard (Houghton) Library. These pictures are not well known and bear no resemblance in style his published works. They are rather rough and interesting sketches that are very well reproduced, including Audubon's manuscript notations, by the Beck Engraving Company of Philadelphia in four-color gravure. I had occasion to purchase one of the prints (the "Great American Shrike") recently and I thought I had come across something quite rare since the curator of the pictures at the Houghton Library was unaware that the originals had ever been reproduced in this fashion.
The work is common in the used book market place but is unlisted for the libraries of AMNH, Cornell, Harvard, the Library of Congress, Trinity or Yale. It is listed for the Smithsonian.
Forkner, B. (Audubon, J. J.)
The / John James Audubon / portfolio / A selection of the original / drawings and watercolors used / in the making of / Birds of America / accompanied by a choice of Audubon’s writings 37.0 x 29.0 cm. Two unprinted white folders in an olive solander box with title printed on spine. Belgium, Edition del la Main Fleuri, 2004.
First white folder. The pages in this folder consist of loose folded folio leaves, i.e. four quarto pages per folded folio leaf. Pp. [i-viii]ix-xxxix[xl][1-2]3-202[203-208].
i-ii, blank; iii, half-title printed in red; iv, blank; v, title; vi, ISBN 2-9600493-0-6; copyright 2004, Edition de la Main Fleurie Pascal Jeanjean et Cie. L; vii, quotation; viii, blank; ix, acknowledgments by publisher Jeanjean; xi, contents; xii, blank; xiii, list of 48 unnumbered illustrations; xvi, blank; xvii-xxxvi, introduction by Forkner; xviii, blank; xix, John James Audubon early life and times; xxiv, the new world; xxix, annus mirabilis; xxxii, Audubon’s America; xxxvii, a compulsive letter writer by Forkner; xl, blank; 1, my style of drawing birds; 11, correspondence and illustrations; xiii, letters to Audubon’s wife, Lucy; 129, letters from Audubon’s trip to Labrador; 165, letters to John Bachman; 205, colophon and limitation statement: “Main Fleurie” paper; illustrations printed by Blanchard Printing, Plessis Robinson, France; text printed by Impressor of Brussels; total print run of 2,500 numbered copies of which 236-2,500 on Main Fleuri paper. This copy number 616.
Contains 48 unnumbered colored plates included in pagination and printed in collotype on one side of page with verso blank. Eight of the plates are reproduced from originals in the La Rochelle (France) Museum of Natural History, the other forty from originals at the New York Historical Society.
Second white folder. Contains a duplicate suite of plates printed on one side of 48 loose quarto leaves.
This is a beautifully produced album that includes eight early paintings, mostly of European birds, that had not previously been published and resemble in style those at the Houghton Library. The text consists mainly of Audubon’s letters. The introductory biography is well informed. The reproduction of these original drawings and paintings is excellent and far superior to the American Heritage Edition, the previous one to show the paintings as opposed to the final prints.
OCLC locates five copies including the British Museum of Natural History, Harvard and Yale.
Turacos / A Portfolio of all Species Text and atlas presented in a maroon-backed, blue pebbled cloth box with gilt lettering on upper cover and spine, the text being included within a maroon pebbled cloth pocket on the inner surface of the upper cover. Nokomis Editions, Clifton Hills, Australia, 1997.
Text: 35.4 x 25.1 cm. Pp. [i-viii]ix-xi[xii]xiii-xvii[xviii]1-46. Maroon pebbled cloth with gilt title on upper cover and spine. i, Half-title; ii, uncolored sketch of Schalow’s Turaco; iii, title; iv, colophon; v, limitation statement (#57/290); vii, contents; viii, sketch of Livingston’s Turaco; ix, foreword by David Attenborough; xi, preface; xii, sketch of Livingston’s Turaco; xiii, acknowledgements; xv, introduction; 1, species accounts.
Portfolio: 75.0 x 57.0 cm. 26 Unpaginated leaves comprising title, limitation statement (#57/290) signed by author and artist, foreword signed by David Attenborough, all printed in henna, and 23 colored plates separated by loosely inserted tissues. These are contained within a wrapper of two conjugate leaves of print-quality paper the upper cover of which contains a finely drawn and colored head of a Great Blue Turaco.
Forshaw and Cooper changed publishing companies for the production of this work which is quite different in appearance from their limited editions previously issued by Lansdowne Press. The excellent colored plates for those works were produced on slightly glossy paper by a laser-dependent procedure. The plates in this work are considerably larger and were printed in fine multi-color half-tone on mat paper (printed by Incolour Printing, lithographics by Show-Adds). The color is first-rate; the greens are truly green and the reds are truly red. The images do not seem quite as sharply defined as in the earlier books but the paper seems more suited to prints.
The text for this work is brief, although for each species, it touches on Identification, Distribution, Subspecies, General Notes and Artist’s Notes. There is neither a bibliography nor an index. Unlike its predecessors, this work does not qualify as a monograph and should be regarded as a fine suite of plates by Cooper with some supportive text by Forshaw.
Forshaw, Joseph M(ichael). Illustrated by Cooper, William T(homas)(1934-2015)
Turacos / A natural history of the Musophagidae 28.8 x 20.7 cm. Pp. [1-6]7-223(1). Original publisher’s navy faux leather with gilt lettering to spine. Color pictorial dust jacket of Great Blue Turacos. Blue-gray endpapers. Melbourne, Nokomis Editions(2002).
1, Half-title; 2, blank; 3, title, printed in blue letters; 4, text and illustrations copyright respectively Forshaw and Cooper; lithographics by Show Ads, Melbourne; printed by PMP Print, Melbourne; ISBN 0 9581742 0 2; 5, contents; 7, foreword by C. Hilary Fry, September, 2000; 11, preface; 17, acknowledgements; 19, introduction; 35, turacos in aviculture, by Robert J. Berry and William W. Todd III; 47, systematic text; 209, gazetteer; 215, references cited (about 200); 221, index of scientific names; 223, index of English names. Contains 23 unnumbered plates by Cooper, printed in color half-tone, included in pagination, and with running text on their obverses. In addition, there are four unnumbered, colored text figures by Cooper, three illustrating heads of various species, one of recently fledged birds. There are also 21 unnumbered, uncolored text figures of birds by Cooper and text figures 1-4 that are simple explanatory diagrams. There are also distribution maps for all species.
This is the trade volume that follows the limited edition, “Turacos A portfolio of all species” published in 1997. That edition contained only a very brief text, which is much expanded in the present volume. The colored text figures of Turaco heads and of recently fledged birds also appear here for the first time. The work covers 23 species.
OCLC locates 26 copies.
Forshaw, Joseph M(ichael). Illustrations by Cooper, William T(homas)
Pigeons and doves / in Australia 27.0 x 30.5 cm. Pp. [i-iv]v-xxviii1-332. Original publisher’s green cloth with gilt lettering on spinel. Printed color pictorial dust jacket with Rose-crowned Fruit-Dove on upper cover. Red endpapers. Clayton South, Victoria, Australia, Csiro Publishing , @2015, reprinted 2015
i Half-title; ii, tribute to William Cooper (1934-2015; iii, title; iv, copyright Forshaw, text 2015, Cooper illustrations, 2015; reprinted in 2015; printed in China by 1010 Printing International Ltd.; (ISBN?)9780643096332; v, foreword by Stephen Davies; vii, contents; ix, preface; xiv, acknowledgements; xvi, introduction; 1, Australian pigeons and doves in aviculture; 7, systematic text; 304, appendix: vagrants; 309, gazetteer; 317, locality map of Australia; 318, references (about 650); 329, index.
There are 30 unnumbered plates by Cooper in color half-tone that are included in pagination and which have running text on their obverses. Also 18 unnumbered, uncolored and 29 colored text illustrations, almost all by Cooper. One of the latter is an almost full-page depiction of several vagrants. Finally, uncolored figures designated 1-4 are explanatory diagrams and there is a distribution map for every species. It is worth noting that this book lacks the reduced uncolored copies of the color plates used by these authors to designate males and females in some of their antecedent books. Here, the individuals are simply designated “upper” and “lower”.
Different companies and individuals were used in the production of this book than had been associated with previous works by these authors. When the work first appeared there were apparently many problems with it that resulted in a small print run and a large number of alterations and corrections. The resulting volume, the “second printing”, is a splendid and beautiful monograph. The many colored text illustrations by Cooper is a worthwhile addition to his fine color plates. The comprehensive text should make the work a standard reference. It covers 31 species, one long extinct.
OCLC locates 48 copies.
Australian / Parrots 30.5 x 25.4 cm. Pp. [i-x]xi-xiv1-306; 160 ll. Original publisher's blue-green cloth with gilt lettering on spine. Pictorial dust jacket. Melbourne, Lansdowne Press, 1969.
i, Half-title; ii, blank; iii, title; iv, copyright, printer designation: Dai Nippon Ltd., Hong Kong; v, dedication; vi, picture credits; vii, contents; xi, foreword by D. L. Serventy; xiii, preface; 1, introduction; 14, blank; 15, topography of a parrot; 16, blank; 17, half-title; 18, blank; 19, systematic text; 296, bibliography; 301, gazetteer; 305, index of common names; 306, scientific names. Contains 73 (title page calls for 72) unnumbered tipped in colored plates of which five are after paintings by John C. Yrizzary and the remainder are photographs of the various species; Also contains twenty unnumbered uncolored text photographs, mostly of habitats, of which one is full-page, and uncolored text Figs. 1-8 which are line drawings.
This is the original printing of the first edition of a very highly regarded work. It was the first of several superb books authored by Forshaw and it was also the first of a number of excellent ornithological works published to a high standard by Landsdowne Press. The second edition of this work was a limited folio published in 1980 with colored plates by William Cooper and is widely considered one of the most beautiful bird books of the 20th century. Forshaw and Cooper subsequently collaborated on other outstanding, and finely illustrated monographs. The magnificent second edition of the present work has obscured the fact that the original edition, although illustrated quite differently, is also a very attractive book and is, of course, equally authoritative.
The work encompasses all 54 species of Australian parrots. The author provides exhaustive coverage of each under headings that include: Description; Distribution; General Notes; Habitat; Status; Habits; Movements; Flight; Call; Feeding; Breeding; and Aviary Notes. The beautiful colored photographs were supplied by a number of individuals but the major contributors were Len Robinson and Graeme Chapman, two of Australia's finest bird photographers. Robinson, in particular, has made a specialty of photographing Australian parrots in their native habitats. Yrizarry's paintings are also excellent.
The present work is listed for the libraries of the AMNH, Harvard, Trintiy and Yale.
Forshaw, Joseph M.(ichael)(illustrated by Cooper, William T.[homas]{1934})
Australian / parrots 30.4 x 21.7 cm Pp. [1-4]5-640. Original publisher’s green cloth with gilt lettering to spine. Olive green endpapers. Pictorial dust jacket. Third (revised) edition, Robina, Queensland, Alexander Editions (2002).
1, Half-title; 2, blank; 3, title; 4, “third revised edition published in 2002..”; ISBN 0 9581212 0 6; designed by Derrick I. Stone, Lily, Victoria; colour separation by Chromavision Colour Separations Pte Ltd, Singapore; printed and bound by Brown Prior Anderson, Burwood, Victoria; 5, contents; 9, foreword by Ian Rowley dated 1 February 2002; 13, preface; 21, acknowledgements; 23, introduction; 36, fossil history of parrots by Walter E. Boles; 41, systematic text covering 56 species; 603, Australian parrots in aviculture; 615, references cited (more than 700); 629, gazetteer; 636, index of common names; 639, index of generic and specific scientific names. Contains 56 unnumbered half-tone color plates of individual species after Cooper; 56 colored distribution maps; two unnumbered pages of colored figures of subspecific variant skins of P. elegans after Cooper; three unnumbered pages of mutations recorded in captivity or in the wild after Cooper; four pages containing 17 unnumbered half-tone color photographs of habitat; two unnumbered colored text photographs; three unnumbered uncolored text photographs; and uncolored text figures 1-14 including a map. The colored plates all have printed versos.
This splendid volume is the culmination of the collaboration on Australian parrots between Forshaw and Cooper. The first edition appeared in 1969 and contained colored photographs of most of the species with a few colored paintings by John Yrizzary. The second edition was issued in regular quarto-sized format and in a magnificent folio limited edition and contained paintings of every species by Cooper. Of the 56 colored plates depicting individual species in this edition, six (five Cockatoos and the Red-winged Parrot) are specific to this volume whereas the others are from the second edition. The other plates by Cooper of mutants and of subspecies of P. elegans were also painted specifically for this edition.
This edition is much expanded because of recent changes in the taxonomy of Australian parrots, recent discoveries concerning their distribution, and the addition of much material concerned with the aviculture of many species. It is difficult to imagine any aspect of Australian parrots which is not treated meticulously in this book.
Forshaw, Joseph M.(ichael)(fl. late 20th century), Cooper, William T.(homas)(illustrator)(1934-)
Parrots of the World 38.1 x 26.0 cm. Pp. [1-4]5-584; 292 ll. Publisher's maroon cloth. Squared spine with gilt lettering. Pictorial dust jacket. Maroon endpapers. Garden City, Doubleday & Company, inc., 1973.
1, Half-title; 2, blank; 3, title; 4, copyright, production and publication data. First published (1973) by Lansdowne Press, Melbourne. Color by Daiichi Seihan Co., Tokyo; 5, contents; 9, foreword; 11, acknowledgements; 13, preface; 17, introduction; 37, Pacific distribution; 273, Afro-Asian distribution; 347, South American distribution; 568, references; 575, index. Contains 158 unnumbered colored plates by Cooper (75, Pacific, 18 Afro-Asian, 65 South American) illustrating approximately 500 individuals of almost 300 species. Also contains three unnumbered, uncolored maps showing the three distributions, uncolored text figures 1, 2a, 2b, 2c, 3-11 and small distribution maps for every species.
This was the first great monograph of the second half of the 20th century and the first book in which the talents of Forshaw and Cooper were united. They were to continue with a superb monograph on the birds-of-paradise, and magnificent limited edition folios dealing with Australian parrots, all members of Coraciiformes, touracos and cockatoos.
The present work covers the almost 340 species that comprise the family of parrots. There is a distribution map and a colored illustration of each species. The text includes a length measurement, distribution, subspecies and a section of general notes. These usually deal with status, vocalization, diet, season and duration of nesting, eggs, and occasionally something about behavior in captivity.
This book was issued simultaneously with Australian and American imprints but was the product of an Australian press. Second and third editions were issued in 1978 and 1989 and there were also limited editions issued in 1977 and 1990.
One or both 1973 imprints listed for Cornell, Harvard, Yale, Trinity.
Forshaw, Joseph M(ichael), and William T(homas) Cooper (illustrator) (1934-).
Kingfishers / and / related / birds Six volumes 50.6 x 35.3 cm. Landsdowne Editions
The complete work contains 156 colored plates and 35 uncolored text sketches of birds by William Cooper.
(Volume I) Alcedinidae / Ceryle to Cittura Melbourne,1983. Pp. [1-6]7-282[283-284]. Publisher's half-blue blind decorated morocco with blue buckram sides. Spine divided by five raised bands into two large and four small compartments. Gilt gray morocco lettering piece in upper large compartment, gilt lettering in fifth (small compartment). Double gilt-ruled six-sided panel on upper cover. Blue endpapers. 1, Series half-title printed in blue; 2, blank; 3, title printed in blue; 4, year of publication; copyright; credits: typeset by Graphicset Pty Ltd, Vic.; colour separation by Show-Ads Colour Centre, Vic.; printing by The Craftsman Press Pty Ltd, Vic.; binding by Apollo Library Binding, Vic.; design by Derrick I. Stone; 5, limitation statement, this copy #921/1000 signed by author and artist; 6, dedication; 7, contents; 9, préface (in French) by Jean Dorst; 11, foreword (English translation of préface) by Dorst; 13, preface (by the author); 17, acknowledgements; 19, introduction; 27, systematic text, Ceryle rudis-Cittura cyanotis, covering 44 species; 181, colored plates.
Contains color half-tone plates I-XXVI printed on recto only. Each plate, itself unnumbered, is preceded by blank tissue guard and by a leaf, the recto of which designates the plate number, the verso of which faces the plate and contains descriptive letter-press. The leaves containing the plates and those with their letter-press are included in the pagination. The plates are replicated in uncolored miniature on the sheet of descriptive letter-press and with the relevant species accounts. Also contains four fine large unnumbered, uncolored pen-and-pencil sketches in text. Finally, contains text figures 1a-c illustrating the descriptive parts of a bird and figures 2 and 3 showing egg shapes and taxonomic arrangements.
(Volume II) Alcedinidae/ Halcyon to Tanysiptera Dee Why (Sydney), 1985 Pp. [285-292]293-564. Binding identical to first volume. 285, Series half-title; 286, blank; 287, title; 288, year of publication; copyright; credits: printed by A. E. Keating, Vic.; 289, signed limitation statement; 290, dedication and acknowledgement; 291, contents; 293, systematic text, Halcyon coromanda-Tanysiptera silva covering 48 species; 445, plates; 549, references cited; 561, index of English names; 562, index of scientific names. Contains colored plates XXVII-LII and seven text pen-and-pencil sketches of which three are full-page.
These first two consecutively paged volumes on kingfishers are housed in a blue buckram Solander box with gilt-paneled and corner-decorated blue morocco lettering pieces on upper cover and spine. Laid in loosely are two colored plates, one, Spotted and Hombron's Kingfishers, (plate XLVI) signed by Cooper and numbered 921/1000; the other a Rufous-necked Hornbill, plate CXXXVIII the later sixth volume, not numbered or signed.
(Volume III) Todidae / Momotidae / Meropidae (Todidae / to / Phoeniculidae on spine only) Chatswood (Sydney), 1987. Pp. [1-7]8-315(1). Binding as above save that the color blue has been replaced by olive green buckram, dark green morocco and lemon green endpapers. 1, Series half-title printed in olive; 2, blank; 3, title printed in olive; 4, year; copyright; credits: typeset by Savage Type Pty Ltd, Brisbane; colour separations by Mentone Offset Reproductions, Vic.; four-colour printing by Colourcraft, Vic.; two-colour printing by Argyle Press, Vic.; binding by Apollo-Moon Bookbinders, Vic.; 5, signed limitation statement; 6, dedication; 7, contents; 9, introduction; 11, Todidae, introduction, accounts of five species; 27, Motmotidae, introduction, accounts of 10 species; 75, Meropidae, introduction, accounts of 27 species; 201, plates; 305, references; 314, index of English names; 315, index of scientific names. Contains colored plates LII-LXXVIII and seven unnumbered pen-and-pencil sketches in the text. Also contains figures 1-3 depicting anatomical parts.
(Volume IV) Leptosomatidae / Coraciidae / Upupidae / Phoeniculidae (identical on spine) Chatswood (Sydney), 1993. Pp. [1-6]7-252. Bound identically to third volume. 1, Series half-title; 2, blank; 3, title; 4, year; copyright; credits: typeset by Fingers Typesetting, Vic.; colour separation by Show-Ads Colour Centre, NSW; printing by Potskill Press, NSW; 5, signed limitation statement; 6, dedication; 7, contents; 9, introduction; 11, Leptosomatidae, introduction and one species account; 19, Coraciidae, introduction and accounts of 17 species; 103, Upupidae, introduction and one species account; 127, Phoeniculidae, introduction and accounts of eight species; 157, plates; 245, references; 251, index of English names; 252, index of scientific names. Contains colored plates LXXIX-C and five unnumbered pen-and-pencil sketches in text, two full-page. Also contains text figure 1, anatomical.
These third and fourth volumes housed in a Solander box similar to that described for the first two volumes save that the buckram is olive and the morocco is dark green.
(Volume V) Bucerotidae / Bucorvus to Anthracocerus Chatswood (Syney), 1994. Pp. [1-6]7-200[201-202]. Binding as in antecedent volumes save buckram, morocco and endpapers are red. 1, Series half-title printed in red; 2, blank; 3, title printed in red; 4, year; copyright; credits: typeset by GEO Productions Pty Ltd; 5, signed limitation statement; 6, dedication; 7, contents; 9, introduction; 11, systematic text, Bucocorvus abyssinicus-Anthracoceros montani, covering 24 species; 107, plates. Contains colored plates CI-CXXIV, seven unnumbered pen-and-pencil sketches in text, three full-page.
(Volume VI) Bucerotidae / Buceros to Ceratogymna Chatswood (Sydney), 1994. [203-208]209-440. Bound identically to fifth volume; 203, Series half-title; 204, blank; 205, title; 206, year; copyright; credits; 207, signed limitation statement; 208, dedication; 209, contents; 211, systematic text, Buceros bicornis-Ceratogymna elata, covering 25 species; 303, plates; 431, references; 439, index of English names; 440, index of scientific names. Contains colored plates CXXV-CLVI five unnumbered pen-and-pencil sketches in text of which three are full-page. There are two colored plates of the Rufous Hornbill, two of the Brown-backed, four of the Tarictic, and two of the Brown-cheeked thus accounting for the presence of seven more plates than species.
These fifth and sixth volumes, consecutively paginated, are housed in a Solander box similar to the other two save that the buckram and morocco are red.
This six-volume treatise on the Coraciiformes is the finest monograph of the second half of the 20th century and compares favorably with its beautiful late 19th century predecessors including Sharpe's Alcedinidae, Elliot's Bucerotidae, Dresser's Meropidae and Dresser's Coraciidae, none of which receive mention in this work. It seems almost a miracle that such a magnificent work was produced when one considers the changes of venues and of craftspeople that occurred during the 11 years between publication of the first and last volumes. This could not have been an easy task.
It is not clear to me how this work was intended to be marketed. The two volumes on kingfishers are paginated consecutively, bound in blue, and boxed together as are those on hornbills, albeit their binding is red. The other two volumes on more varied taxonomic groups are paginated separately but boxed together. They are bound and boxed identically to the others but in green. The colored plates are numbered consecutively throughout the six volumes. Cornell describes the six-volume work as three parts in six volumes and it may well be that the publishers intended that the two-volume components could stand, and sell on their own. Nowhere in these books have I been able to find a printed volume designation, again, I think, because the publishers did not want to force buyers to commit to an expensive six-volume work.
The text coverage is informative and very comprehensive, attempting to provide for every species: a description with measurements; distribution; subspecies; habitat and status; movements; habits; calls; feeding; and breeding characteristics. Many recent papers and much correspondence are quoted. The objective is to describe these birds and deliver a contemporary status report and this has been ably achieved. There is no attempt to supply a historical perspective.
However, it is the illustrations that really elevate this work. Virtually all members of the family Coraciiformes are striking in form, and often in color. It is obvious that Cooper tried to see as many of them in the wild as possible. He signed and dated these colored plates so we know that they were executed over a long period of time, for example, those in the two volumes on hornbills date from 1978-1994. Often, he provides sufficient background to project the ambiance of the environment of the species that he has painted. I have seen many of these birds in their native habitats and his pictures recall my experiences with extraordinary immediacy.
Listed by AMNH, Cornell, Harvard. Trinity lists the first four volumes. Unlisted by Yale.
Forshaw, Joseph M(ichael) (illustrated by William T(homas) Cooper {1934-})
Australian / Parrots Two volumes. 50. 8 x 35.4 cm. Fine full green morocco with blind frame and corner designs. Upper cover with inlaid colored print of Galah (Green Rosella in volume II), the image and feathers highlighted with liquid silver, the colors in half-tone not colored leathers, on overlaid papers or on the underlying boards. Spine with seven raised ridges, silver frames in all compartments. Silver lettering on red leather labeling pieces in second and fourth compartments, silver coronal designs in other five. Silver publisher's name and logo in seventh compartment. Melbourne, Sydney, New York, London, Landsdowne Press (1980, second [revised] edition). Presented in plain red cloth Solander box.
The complete work covers 54 species with 56 unnumbered colored plates including two well marked subspecies, Yellow-tailed Cockatoo and Hooded Parrot. The work also contains 12 unnumbered full-page pen and pencil sketches. There is a distribution map for each of the 54 species and a reduced, uncolored reproduction of each of the 56 colored plates to accompany specific letter-press concerning the plate.
Volume I. / Lorinae and Cacatuinae Pp. [1-8]9-150; 75 ll. 1, Half-title printed in green; 2, blank; 3, title printed in green; 4, edition statement, copyright dates (1969, 1980); production credits: typeset in Monophoto Apollo by Dominion Press, North Blackburn; Colour separation, printing, binding by Norman J. Field & Co., Pty Ltd, Richmond; design by Derrick I. Stone; 5, limitation statement, this copy #964/1,000, signed by Forshaw and Cooper; 6, blank; 7, dedication to wives; 8, blank; 9, contents of volumes I and II; 12, blank; 13, foreword by D. L. Serventy; 16, blank; 17, preface; 23, acknowledgements; 25, introduction, general considerations; 38, blank; 39-150, systematic accounts covering 17 species, Rainbow Lorikeet (Triglossus)-Cockatiel (Nymphicus). Contains 18 unnumbered colored plates and six full-page uncolored sketches, all included in pagination and containing printed matter on the versos. Also contains text figures 1-8 including a full-page depiction of the topography of a parrot and a full page locality map of Australia.
Volume II. / Psittacinae Pp. Five unnumbered preliminary leaves, 151-379(1); 120 ll. First four preliminary leaves identical to pp. 1-8 of volume I; fifth preliminary leaf, contents of volume II, recto and verso; 151-362, systematic accounts of 37 species, Norfolk Island Kaka (Nestor)-Night Parrot (Geopsittacus); 363, references cited; 369, gazzeteer; 375, index of common names; 378, index of scientific names. Contains 38 colored plates, eight uncolored plates and text figures 9-10.
The first edition of this book was published by Forshaw in 1969. It was a handsome competent work illustrating all species in color, mainly by photographs but with five colored plates by John Yrizzary. Forshaw and Cooper then collaborated on two very successful and beautiful books, Parrots of the World (1973) and The Birds of Paradise and Bower Birds (1977). The ground was thus laid for a series of splendid works issued in limited editions of which this is the first. The text is comprehensive, revised slightly from that of the first edition. For each species it provides other names; description with measurements; distribution; habitats; status; habits; movements; flight; calls; feeding; breeding; eggs; and aviary notes.
It is, however, the illustrations that distinguish this work. The pictures of parrots are, in my opinion, the best that have ever been done, surpassing even those of Edward Lear. This is due not only to Cooper's great artistic talent, but also to his field knowledge of virtually every species that he portrays. It is obvious that Landsdowne Press entered terra incognita in attempting to produce a book of very high quality and the colored plates should certainly have been printed on their own separate leaves. The inlaid parrots on the covers might have been done with colored leathers to better effect although perhaps that might have been prohibitively expensive. The color printing, although done by ordinary half-tone, was clearly supervised very carefully by Cooper and is excellent. The book is certainly amongst the most beautiful of its era.
A trade edition of this book in reduced format with the same title was published in 1981. Another edition was published in 1989 and yet another in 2002.
This limited edition is unlisted by AMNH, Cornell, Harvard, Trinity and Yale.
Forster, Georg (1754-1794) (Steiner, Gerhard and Baege, Ludwig, eds)
Vögel der Südsee / 23 Gouachen und Aquarelle / nach Zeichnungen Georg Forsters, . entstanden während se iner / Weltumsegelung 1772 bis 1775 36.0 x 24.9 cm. Pp. [1-52]53-79[80]. Original publisher’s blue boards with gilt lettering to upper cover and spine. Color pictorial printed slipcase. Leipzig, Im Insel-Verlag, 1971.
1, Vignette of sailboat on upper, outer corner; 2, blank; 3, title; 4, blank; 5, photocopy of Forster’s original index for plates 1-23; 6, designation for plate (Tafel) 1; 7-52, Tafeln 1-25, each half-tone color plate printed in frames on recto with identifying letter-press on verso of preceding leaf; 53, die Vogelbilder Georg Forsters-ein Ergebnis der zweiten Cookschen Weltreise; 55, zur Charakteristik der Forsterschen Vogelbilder; 58, das Schicksal der Vogelbilder; 62, Untersuchung der Serien A, aus der Forschungsbibliothek Gotha; 65, B, aus der Universitätsbibliothek Jena; aus dem Schlossmuseum Weimar; 66, Anmerkungen; 67, Personenregister; 68, Literaturverzeichnis; 70, Tafelverzeichnis un Beschreibung der dargestellten Vogelarten;79, Inhalt; 80, acknowledgements and copyright. Contains framed half-tone colored plates 1-23 printed on rectos with identifying letter-press on verso of antecedent leaf.
Most of these fine color plates are the first depictions of various species from the south seas and New Zealand.
OCLC lists about 30 sites.
The Published Writings of George Newbold Lawrence, 1844-1891 23 x 15 cm. Pp.(I-IV)V-XI(1)1-124. New buckram-backed marbled boards, original upper wrapper bound in. Bulletin of the United States National Museum No. 40 Biographies of American Naturalists: IV. Washington, Government Printing Office, 1892.
I, Bulletin title’ III, article title; V, contents; VII, biographical sketch; IX, Genus and species named in honor of G. N. Lawrence; 1-100, bibliography; 100-105, alphabetical list of species described by Lawrence; 107-124, index. Contains a very fine uncolored engraved frontispiece portrait of Lawrence designated “A. Robin, del. L. S. Foster, Imp.”
This is one in a series of bibliographies of American naturalists put out by the Smithsonian. Lawrence (1806-1895) was still alive when it was published. He was a contemporary and friend of Spencer Baird, and while a New York businessman described more than 300 new species and subspecies, almost all of them neotropical. He received the recognition of his peers in the form of a Genus and several species named after him. Lyman Spaulding Foster, his bibliographer, must have been an unusually devoted and compulsive man. Apparently, he, or a company he ran, was responsible for the really superb engraved portrait of Lawrence that serves as a frontispiece.
Trinity, p. 268
Frade, F. (with the collaboration of Amélia Bacelar)
Catálago / das / aves de Moçambique 25.0 x 18.5 cm. [1]82-188 194[$1 signed]. 148 ll. Pp (including endpapers) [1-10]11-294[295-296]. Original brown printed wrappers with journal title enclosed in red frame on upper cover. Uncut, unopened. Lisboa, Anais, Vol. VI, Part IV-Fascicle IV, 1951 (but actually 1953). Free front endpaper contains signed inscription from the author to W. Serle, an authority on West African ornithology.
1-2 blank; 3, Junta das Missões Geográficas / e de Investigações Coloniais / Estudos de Zoologia / Anais, Vol. Vi, Tomo IV-Fascículo IV / 1951; 4, blank; 5, Trabalhos / da / Missão Zoologica de Moçambique / (XXV); 6, blank; 7, article title (see above); 8, blank; 9, note explaining that the article was actually not published until 1953 and that the author expanded the bibliography that year; 10, blank; 11, introduction; 25 bibliography (about 100 citations); 31, systematic list containing 800 species and subspecies with synonymy; 247, index of generic and specific names; 295, printer designation: Sociedad Industrial de Tipografia, Limitada.
This is a highly important, though little known work on a part of Africa which, at the time, was virtually terra incognita for ornithology. Clancy’s contributions came shortly after this one. The present work contains a virtually unannotated list with citations for the original description of the species and for African synonymy.
This work is rare. OCLC lists five locations including Harvard
Collections Zoologiques / du Baron / Edm. De Selys Longchamps / Catalogue / Systématique et descriptif Fasc. XXXI. Oiseaux 32.8 x 25.2 cm. [1]42-16416a[$1 signed]; 65 ll. Pp. [1-3]4-130. Original gray-green printed wrappers. Uncut, unopened. Bruxelles, Hayez, Imp. des Académies, 1910. No 245 of an unspecified limitation. From Selys-Longchamps, Michel Edmond de, Baron, Collections Zoologiques, Bruxelles, Hayez, 1906-1923.
1, Series title; 2, blank; 3, specific title "Oiseaux"; 4, note; 5, ornithological biography; 21, list of publications; 23, collection of birds. Contains chromolithographic planches I, II, by J. F. Gaffart of Bruxelles after E. de Maes.
Baron de Selys-Longchamps must have collected many items other than birds since this publication is fascicle 31 published in 1910 and publications of additional fascicles continued through 1923. This volume was written by Fraipont, a Belgian academic, and contains an ornithological biography of the Baron that comprises an overview of his contributions to ornithology, most of which involved taxonomy and classification. This is followed by a list of his ornithological publications and, finally, by a systematic list of his collection of birds. This comprised more than 1000 species and was apparently quite special since the two examples from it that are illustrated in the chromolithographs are the Great Auk and Fregilupus, the aberrant extinct starling from Réunion.
Wood, p. 562 (under Selys-Longchamps); Yale, p. 100. Absent from published Trinity and Ayer catalogs.
British / natural / history / books / 1495-1900 / a handlist 22.0 x 13.3 cm. Pp. [1-6]7-437(1). Publisher's green cloth with gilt lettering to cover and spine. Folkstone, Kent, Wm Dawson & Sons Ltd., and Hamden, Connecticut, Archon Books, 1980.
1, half-title; 2, other books by Freeman; 3, title; 4, first published 1980; copyright 1980; ISBN 0 7129 0971 0; ISBN 0 208 01790 0(Archon); printed and bound in Great Britain by W & J Mackay Limited, Chatham; 5, contents; 6, blank; 7, introduction; 15, references; 23, part I, alphabetical list of authors; 385, part II, list of titles in date order from 1495 to 1800; 403, subject index.
Freeman had previously written bibliographies on the works of Darwin and of P. H. Gosse. Here he attempts to encompass a much larger group of books. The alphabetical list of authors contains 4206 titles, yet often seems to be lacking the one for which I happen to be looking. For each of these, he provides the following: full names of the authors; short version of title; year, place and publisher; indications of size, number of pages, number of plates and whether colored, and presence of text figures.
Articles in periodicals are not listed.
Listed by AMNH, Cornell, Harvard, Trinity and Yale.
Fremery, Petrus Johannes Isaäcus de (1797-1855)
Specimen zoölogicum, / sistens / observationes, / praesertim osteologicas / de / casuario / Novae Hollandiae, / quod, / favente deo / praeside viro clarissimo / Nicoloao Cornelio de Fremery. / / ad publicam disceptationem proponit / auctor, / Petrus Johanes Isaäcus de Fremery, / rheno-traiectinus, / Med. Cand. / die xxvii januarii MDCCCXIX, hora XI. 20.0 x 12.7 cm. Laid paper. 8o. Catch words. π3A-E8F4[$1-5, signed]; 47 ll. Pp. (6)[1]2-86[87](1). Contemporary brown mottled boards with old paper labeling pieces on spine. Blue sprinkled edges. Trajecti ad Rhenum, ex offic. Joh. Altheer, 1819.
π1r, Half-title; π1v, blank; π2r, title; π2v, blank; π3r, viris clarissimis / Nicolao Cornello de Fremery //////////// Petro Isaäco de Fremery; π3v, dedication; 1, text; 79, legend for figure 1; 81, legend for figure 2; 82, quaestiones; 87, corrigenda. Contains figures 1 and 2 on one folded plate drawn by J.(an) H.(endrik) Verheyen (1778-1846), engraved by D(anie)l Veelwaard (1766-1851).
This is published thesis dissertation on the osteology of the emu and is one of the earliest extended treatises on the bone structure of a ratite bird. It is presumably an important contribution since it is cited under Dromeus novae hollandiae in the Catalogue of birds in the British Museum and by Pycraft in his On the morphology and phylogeny of the paleaeognathae…(1900) that accompanies Rothschild's Monograph of the genus Casuarius. The work is beautifully produced on laid paper and the large engraved plate is superbly executed. The Corrigenda leaf (F4 or pp. 87/88 according to my description) is apparently lacking in the copies described in the BM(NH) catalogue and by Engelmann. It is present in the copies at Harvard and Trinity, each of which also contain a fourth preliminary leaf here lacking. Of this leaf, the Trinity listing remarks "First leaf has author, title…almost certainly …a set of publisher's printed labels on a leaf meant to be cancelled".
BM(NH), p. 617; Engelmann, p. 262; Whittell, p. 256. Also listed by Harvard, Trinity. Not listed by AMNH, Cornell, Wood, Yale, Zimmer.
Friedmann, Herbert (1900-1987), Griscom, Ludlow (1890-1957), Moore, Robert T. (editor-in-chief, part II, Alden H. Miller)
Distributional check-list / of the / birds of Mexico Two parts in one volume. 26.1 x 17.2 cm. Blue buckram with gilt lettering to spine. Cooper Ornithological Club. Pacific Coast Avifauna Nos. 29 and 33. Berkeley, by the (Cooper Ornithological) Club.
Part I June 30, 1950 Pp. [1-2]4-202(2,blank). 1,title; 2, note about publications of the Club; edited by Alden H. Miller and Frank Pitelka; 3, contents; 5, introduction; 9-183(1), systematic text, Tinamus major-Selasphorus sasin; 185, alphabetical index of Latin, English and Mexican bird names. Contains two unnumbered colored plates by Andrew Jackson Grayson printed in half-tone on one side only and not included in pagination.
Part II December 20, 1957 Pp. [1-3]4-436. 1, title; 2, note; 3, contents; 5, introduction; 10, blank; 11, systematic text, Pharomachras mocino-Calcarius ornatus; 403, hypothetical list (30 species); index to part II; 436, corrigenda. Contains seven colored plates by Grayson.
The authors claim, in the introduction to part II, that "The present check-list is …a first one" and it was certainly by far the most complete of its time. During the 1930s and early 40s, Robert T. Moore had financed and amassed a collection of 55,000 Mexican birds skins which formed the basis for much of the material in this book. These were kept at Occidental College where he provided the funds to build and maintain a Laboratory of Zoology. For every species and subspecies, the work supplies the following information: original descriptive reference; global distribution; status and detailed distribution including altitude in Mexico and, for rarer birds, dates and exact localities.
The nine plates were done in the mid 19th century by Andrew Jackson Grayson, a little-known ornithologist and artist who was a protégé of Spencer Baird. He produced a portfolio of colored paintings in large format but only the nine in these volumes were published until 1987. In that year, the Arion Press issued a book and associated album containing 156 large colored prints of his work in an edition of 400 sets.
Listed by Cornell, Harvard, Trinity, Yale. Not listed by AMNH.
The Double / Elephant / Folio / the story of / Audubon’s / Birds / of America 25.0 x 18.0 cm. Pp. [i-vi]vii-ix[x]xi-xix[xx]xxi-xxii[1-2]3-501[502-504]. Original beige buckram decorated with painted wing of magpie and backed with green leather. Chicago, American Library Association, 1973.
i, Half-title; iii, title; v, dedication; vii, contents; xi, illustrations; xiii, acknowledgments; xxi, apologia; 1, creation of the double elephant folio; 135, subscribers sets and costs; 207, census and survey of extant complete sets; 351, appendixes; 453, bibliography; 455, notes; 485, index; 504, colophon. Contains colored frontispiece and 19 unpaginated leaves of unnumbered and uncolored illustrations and reproductions.
This is the standard work of scholarship on Audubon’s magnum opus. It covers the production of the work, the location and provenance of known copies, and information about various reproductions and other editions.
LSU, 1042; Trinity, p. 93.
Frisch, Johan Dalgas (1930-)(illustrated by Svend Frisch)
Aves Brasileiras Volume I. 22.6 x 15.3 cm. Pp. [1-3]4-353[354]. In Portuguese. Original brown boards with gilt ornithological vignette on upper cover, gilt lettering to spine. São Paulo, Dalgas Ecoltec Ecologia Técnica, (1981). Signed and inscribed to RLS on half-title. Laid in loosely are: uncolored map of South America on card (22.5 x 14.9 cm); pamphlet (22.4 x14.9, 14 unpaginated leaves, entitled Aves Brasileiras / Birds of Brazil / identification guide / addendum, written in English, dated April, 1982, and being a translation of some of the preliminary material in the book; card brochure in English advertising a sound supplement for the book; promotional brochure for the book; and a copy of an article about the author and his father in English from the Brazil Herald, September 3, 1981.
1, Half-title; 2-3, title with uncolored photograph of rhea; 4, dedication; 5, colored photograph of Svend Frisch; 6, copyright; printed in Italy by A. Mondadori, Verona; 7, contents; 8, prefácio by Omar Fontana; 12, coméntario by Amador Aguiar; 14, apresentacão by Martin Bueno de Mesquita; 18, introductory note by Frisch with acknowledgements; 22, identification guide; 30, systematic list of orders and families; 32-271(1), plates and letter-press; 273, technical advice on observing birds; 283, technical advice on photographing birds; 289, technical advice on recording birds; 300, index of Portuguese names; 310, scientific names; 330, English names; 343, Castilian names; 354, legend for jacket photograph. Contains 120 unnumbered colored plates of birds printed in half-tone on recto with facing identification letter-press (English, Latin, Portuguese, Castilian) printed on verso of preceding plate. All plates included in pagination. Also contains two other colored plates, about nine colored text figures, an uncolored vignette, and an uncolored half-tone photograph on title page.
There is essentially no ornithological text to accompany the many colored plates of family groupings done by the author's father over a period of 30 years and assembled here in systematic order. Many of the figures contain irregular colored borders and were probably originally painted on colored paper and then excised and pasted onto white paper. Most Brazilian birds are illustrated here with the puzzling exception of hummingbirds. The work is designated "Volume I", however, I know of no subsequent volume. Frisch was the author of a book with the same title published in 1964.
The present work is listed by AMNH, Cornell, Harvard, Trinity and Yale.
Frith, Clifford B., Beehler, Bruce M. (illustrated by William T. Cooper [1934-]; sonogram production by Michael McGuire)
The birds of paradise / Paradisaeidae 24.5 x 18.9 cm. Pp. [i-vii]viii-xxx[1-3]4-613(1). Publisher's navy cloth, gilt lettering to spine. Pictorial dust jacket. Oxford, New York, Tokyo, Oxford University Press, 1998.
i, Series title: Bird families of the world; editors, C. M. Perrins, Chief Editor, W. J. Bock, J. Kikkawa; biographies of authors and artist for present volume; ii, list of six volumes (this one the last) in the series; iii, volume title page; iv, copyright 1998; published in the United States by Oxford University Press, Inc., New York; ISBN 0 19 854853 2l; typeset by EXPO Holdings, Malaysia; printed in Great Britain by Butler and Tanner, Ltd, Frome and London; v, dedication; vi, blank; vii, foreword by Sir David Attenborough; ix, preface and acknowledgements; xii, contents; xvi, list of colour plates; xvii, abbreviations; xix, plan of the book; xxv, typography and markings of a bird including line diagrams a-c and a-j; xxviii-xxx, uncolored maps; 1, part I, title "General chapters"; 2, blank; 3, chapter 1: the incredible birds of paradise-an introduction; 29, 2: discovery and history; 47, 3: evolution and biogeography; 78, 4: ecology; 102, 5: reproductive behavior; 123, 6: nesting biology and parental care; 143, 7: birds of paradise in human tradition and culture; 154, 8: conservation; 169, part II, title "Species accounts"; 171, systematic text, Cnemophilus loriae-Paradisea rudolphi, covering 42 species in 17 genera; 499, appendices, 1: hybrids; 521, 2: explorations of Australasia; 552, 3: results of examination of museum specimens for signs of moult; 554, 4: summary of records of eaten plant species; 560, 5: some published recordings of vocalizations; 561, 6: a brief guide to where to study wild birds of paradise; 566,7: gazetteer; 573, glossary; 580, bibliography (approximately 800 entries); 607, index including generic, specific and common names. Contains: plates 1-15 printed on recto in color half-tone, so numbered with letter-press on facing verso of preceding plate or, for plate 1, on verso of sectional title leaf "Plates", 12 of the plates illustrating all species and hybrids after Cooper and the 16 leaves not included in pagination and placed between pages174 and 175; uncolored text figures 1.1-1.5; 2.1-2.4; 3.1-3.5; 4.1-4.6; 5.1-5.3; 6.1-6.2; 7.1-7.7; 9.1-9.87(the "9" refers to part II), including half-tone maps, sonograms, photographs and many sketches by Cooper.
This work is the ne plus ultra monograph for this forever fascinating group of birds. The sections on each species include the following sections: description of all stages; distribution; systematics, nomenclature, subspecies, weights and measurements; habitats and habits; diet and foraging; vocalizations and other sounds; mating system; courtship behavior; breeding; nestling development; annual cycle; status and conservation; research priorities; and aviculture.
The authors have each had vast field experience with the family. Frith is one of Australia's leading bird photographers and has made a specialty of observing and photographing these birds. Beehler did the field work on these and bower birds for his Princeton thesis at the Wau Institute where I met him in 1980 on my way to nearby Mount Missim. William Cooper's magnificent folio pictures of these birds embellished the antecedent (1977) publication on birds of paradise and bower birds written by Joseph Forshaw.
Listed by AMNH, Cornell, Harvard, Trinity, Yale.
Frith, Clifford B. & Frith, Dawn, W. (illustrated by Eustace Barnes, Sonogram production by Michael Mc Guire)
The Bowerbirds / Ptilonorhynchidae 24.6 x 18.9 cm. Pp. [i-v] vi-xxxiii(1)(2, “part I general chapters”[1]2-222-508. Original publisher’s black cloth with white lettering to spine. Color pictorial dust jacket depicting Regent Bowerbird on upper cover. London, Oxford University Press, first published 2004, first printing. The tenth volume of the “Bird Families of the World” series.
i, Biographies of authors and artist; ii, antecedent volumes in the series; iii, title; iv, first published 2004; ISBN 0 19 854844; typeset by Macmillan India Ltd; printed in China; v, preface and acknowledgements; vii, dedication; ix, contents; xi, colour plates (located between pages 222 and 223); xiii, abbreviations; xxii, plan of the book; 1, the bowerbirds-an introduction; 16, systematics and biogeography; 44, ecological cycles, foraging and other behavior; 80, morphology, bower sites, structure and their significance; 128, bower site acquisition, fidelity, courtship; 153, breeding biology and parental care; 199, Evolution of mating systems and sexual selection; 223, part II species accounts; (20 species); 453, glossary; 462, bibliography (approximately 1200 references); 497, index. Contains color half-tone plates 1-8 with images printed on rectos located on eight glossy sheets between pp. 222 and pp. 223. The explanatory text for each plate is printed on the verso of the preceding plate. Neither the images nor the texts are included in the pagination. There are about 40 line drawings, many of which show several figures.
Frith, H.(arold) J.(ames)(1921-)
(Consultant editor)
Reader's Digest / Complete / book of / Australian / birds 32.5 x 23.1 cm. [1-9]10-615[616]. Publisher's ivory, grain-textured cloth with brown lettering to spine. Color photographic pictorial endpapers. Pictorial dust jacket. Sydney, Reader's Digest Services Pty Ltd, 1979(1976).
1, Half-title; 2, "First edition, second revise"; ISBN 0 909486 63 8; 3, title; 4, editor designation; list of (50) contributors; 5, foreword by Alec H. Chisholm; 6-7, double-page plate, section title: part 1: land of birds; 10, where birds live; 20-21, double-page plate, section title: part 2: birds of Australia; 22, naming and identifying birds; 25, species accounts, Dromaius novaehollandiae-Corvus splendens, comprising about 700 species; 582, rare visitors, escaped captives, unsuccessful introductions (66 species); 584, classification by order and family (capsular taxonomic summaries); 592-593, double-page plate, section title: part 3: the life of birds; 594 behaviour that distinguishes species by Ian Rowley; 597, migrants and nomads by H. J. Frith; 598, how birds' numbers are regulated by Frith; 600, birds of prehistoric Australia by G. F. van Tets; 602, mysterious origins of Australian birds by Richard Schodde; 606, index of scientific names; 608, index of common names; 614, acknowledgments including references; credits: reproduction by Associated Lithographers Pty Ltd, Sydney; printing and binding by The Griffin Press Ltd, Sydney; 616, printer designation; The Griffin Press Limited. Contains: about 740 unnumbered photographic illustrations (three double-page, 29 full-page) throughout text almost all printed in color half-tone; eight colored text maps; uncolored distribution maps for all species.
The pictures for this book, obtained from the National Photographic Index of Australian Birds, were the work of many photographers, all of whom are listed in the Acknowledgment section at the end. The species accounts were written by 50 contributors listed on page 4. For each species, there is a distribution map, a good colored photograph, and a brief general essay followed by even briefer sections on identification, voice, nesting and distribution.
Listed by AMNH, Cornell, Harvard Yale. Trinity lists a 1986 edition edited by Richard Schodde.
Fry, C. Hilary, Fry, Kathy and Harris, Alan
Kingfishers / bee-eaters & rollers 23.7 x 15.6 cm. Pp. [i-vi]vii-xi[xii-xiii](1, Figure 1[map])1-324. Contains one blank leaf at beginning and two at end. Original publisher’s blue cloth with gilt lettering on spine. Pictorial dust jacket. Princeton, Princeton University Pres, (1992).
i, Half-title; ii, blank; iii, title with vignette of kingfishers; iv, copyright, 1992; ISBN 0-691-08780-6; printed in Italy; v, dedication, vignette of bee-eater; vi, blank; vii, contents; x, introduction; xi, acknowledgements; xiii, half-title; 1, explanation of plates, maps and text; 6, characters and relationships; 12, food and foraging; 17, nesting; 19, social and breeding behaviour; distribution and derivation; 24, island rarities; 25, colour plates; 107 systematic section; 107, kingfishers (1-87); 241, bee-eaters (88-111); 287, rollers (112-123); 309, bibliography (almost 200 references); 318, index (English, generic and specific). Contains color half-tone plates 1-40 by Harris on rectos and corresponding text and colored distribution maps on facing versos of antecedent leaves, all included in pagination. Also contains two uncolored vignettes in preliminaries. Also contains uncolored Figures 1-6 (including two maps and line sketches) in the preliminary sections and 23 unnumbered line sketches in the systematic text.
This is a concise monograph on three families of birds comprising 87 species of kingfishers, 24 of bee-eaters and 12 of rollers. Included for each are the original citation; field identification; voice; geographical variation; habitat and range; food; habits; a description including juveniles; measurements; references; a distribution map and several very good colored figures by Alan Harris. The book is well done but had the misfortune of being published more or less simultaneously with the magisterial work of Forshaw and Cooper that covered the same three families (as well as several others).
OCLC locates about 320 examples
Fuertes, Louis Agassiz (1874-1927)
Album of / Abyssinian birds and mammals 30.5 x 25.3 cm. Pp. (4), 32 colored plates, erratum slip. Housed loosely in custom blue cloth box with double gilt-ruled red morocco lettering piece on upper cover. Special publication of Field Museum of Natural History. (Chicago, Field Museum, 1930).
First unpaginated leaf, recto-second, recto, introduction by Wilfred H. Osgood, Curator of Zoology, dated November, 1930; second, verso, list of subjects. Contains erratum slip loosely inserted and plates 1-32(28 birds, four mammals), printed on thick card in eight or nine color half-tone within gray frames (25.5 x 20.3 cm) with enumeration and brief text on verso.
This work, done during an expedition to Abyssinia (Ethiopia) in 1926-27, is widely acknowledged to contain Fuertes's finest published plates. This is partly due to the fact that the production costs of the fine printing were paid privately by C. Suydam Cutting. However, the pictures, mostly portraits but a memorable tableau of gelada baboons on a cliff along the great rift, exhibit a certain liveliness and spontaneity that is extraordinary. Some (16) were later reproduced with reduced gray margins in Artist and naturalist in Ethiopia (1936). The set originally came in a flimsy publisher's printed gray card portfolio.
Listed by AMNH, Cornell, Harvard, Trinity, Yale.
Fuertes, Louis Agassiz (1874-1927)
(Collection of Prints of Game Birds) Text 30.6 x 22.3 cm. Plate sheets 35.8 x 30.7. Unpaginated. Text printed on a single sheet 30.6 x 89.2 cm folded along the short axis in such a way as to yield eight pages of the above dimensions. The top leaf contains a publisher's note entitled "Forty Years Ago". The three additional pages on the same side of the large sheet as this note are blank. The remainder of the text consists of descriptions of the depicted birds and is written on the four pages that comprise the obverse of the side containing the publisher's note. There are 13 colored prints depicting 11 species. These are framed and most of the actual image sizes are approximately 29 x 21 cm but one is 24.1 x 23.8. Each frame has "American Wildlife Institute, Washington, D. C." printed just below it on the left. American Wildlife Institute, Washington D.C., (1946). The contents are contained in the original envelope from the Institute. Also included in the envelope is an unrelated colored print of game birds by Arthur Singer.
The introduction tells us that the text for these pictures was written forty years before publication of the series, by Fuertes, himself, in 1906. Presumably, the plates were done then or earlier but we are not told when, where or if any of the text and pictures were actually published. The birds depicted include Ruffed Grouse (two prints); Willow Ptarmigan (two prints); Upland Plover; Bob White; King Rail; Canada Goose; Wild Turkey; Canvasback; Wood Duck; Sandhill Crane and Mallard. The original study for this picture of the King Rail is shown on page 6 of Peck's biography of Fuertes, A Celebration of Birds… (1982) and is said to have been done in 1901 and to be in the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University. One of the Grouse pictures as well as those of Bob White, Canada Goose, Wild Turkey, Canvasback and Mallard appeared in Game Birds of America by E. H. Forbush in The Mentor magazine, 6 October, 1913. In that article, these pictures bore the copyright of Fuertes for the year 1906.
Fuertes did not have the good fortune of later American ornithological artists in having his work reproduced by fine printing techniques in limited editions. Some of his published work such as the plates for Eaton's Birds of New York (1910-1914) were issued both as part of the book and as independent suites. The sheets for the present suite are unusually large for prints by Fuertes since he was not the illustrator for any book containing pages of this size. The five prints in The Mentor actually show a central section only of the larger prints present in this set. My favorites in the present set are the Wood Duck and particularly the Sandhill Cranes which is amongst the finest of all illustrations by Fuertes that I have seen.
Fuertes, Louis Agassiz (1872-1927) (Comstock, Anna Botsford[1854-1930])
(The Bird Notebook / by / Anna Botsford Comstock / Outline of Birds / by / Louis Agassiz Fuertes / Book No. 1[2]. Ithaca, the Comstock Publishing Company, 1913)
22.8 x 15.9 cm. Brown card covers with manuscript title "Birds" and stenciled design of two swallows on upper cover. Initial blank leaf stamped May 22, 1916. Terminal blank leaf signed "Helen Blauvelt" Contains 10 additional leaves with mounted, hand-colored plates (20.2 x 12.2 cm) from the above work. These contain printed designations XXIV, Redheaded Woodpecker; XL, Phoebe; XXVII, Belted Kingfisher; XLVI, Maryland Yellow-throat; XIV, English Sparrow; XI, Rose-breasted Grosbeak; XXXII, Indigo Bunting; III, Chick-a-dee; XVII, Baltimore Oriole; VIII, Catbird. Some of these have very knowledgeable pencilled instructions to the colorist.
Anna Botsford Comstock, an "artist-naturalist" according to Robert Peck, the Fuertes biographer (A Celebration of Birds [1982]) was a prolific writer on natural history subjects, mostly insects. She was the wife of a Cornell professor who was presumably part of the family associated with the Ithaca company that published this work and subsequently became the natural history arm of Cornell University Press. Fuertes was the son of the Dean of the Cornell Engineering School and much influenced by the university environment. The work cited above from which these plates derive was an ephemeral item probably intended as an introduction for children to ornithology and a coloring book. It was issued in the form of a pad and is absent from all bibliographies I could find save that Notebook No. 2 is listed for the Cornell University Library.
The present sample of 10 outline drawings including examples from both Notebooks 1 and 2 is exquisitely colored by a very serious hand. The pencilled instructions include the advice "brown" for the flank of the kingfisher. I compared the "own" of brown with that in the word "down" that appears in a Fuertes manuscript reproduced by Peck on page 149 and found them to be very similar. Fuertes was in Ithaca and much in need of employment in 1916 when this manuscript was produced. I believe that the instructions may have been his and that Helen Blauvelt, presumably the colorist of this item, may have been taking drawing and coloring lessons from him.
Fuertes, Louis Agassiz (1874-1927)(Harry C. Oberholser1870-1963]; Edgar B. Kincaid Jr.)
A Fuertes portfolio of Texas birds / the color plates from the first edition of / The bird life of Texas / paintings by Louis Agassiz Fuertes / with text from The bird life of Texas, / written by Harry C. Oberholser and / edited by Egar B. Kincaid, Jr. Introduction by Edgar B. Kincaid, Jr. 29.8 x 21.6 cm. 47 Unpaginated leaves printed on tan laid paper with "Kilmary Text" water mark on each. Un bound and contained in russet-colored slip case with paper lettering pieces on upper cover and spine. Austin and London, University of Texas Press, (1977). Contains colored plates 1-36 displaying 43 species and finely printed in half-tone on one side only.
First unpaginated leaf: recto, title; verso, ISBN 0-292-72420-9; copyright 1974, 1977; printed in the United states of America.
Second: recto, limitation statement signed by Kincaid, this number 176 of 750 numbered sets; plates printed on Lustro Offset Enamel by the Streck Warlick Company; text printed by the Printing Division at the University of Texas on Kilmory Text; cases made by Universal Book Bindery; verso, blank.
Third: recto-verso, introduction by Kincaid dated 30 May, 1977.
Fourth-47th: one leaf of explanatory text for each of 43 displayed species.
The Bird Life of Texas was published in 1974. The present set is a limited edition collection of the colored plates and accompanying text from the original work but with the text newly printed on elegant laid paper with single leaves devoted to each of the 43 illustrated species. There is a special introduction by Kincaid, the editor of the original book. I'm not certain whether or not the plates were also newly printed. The entire production (save the too-tight fitting case) is extremely well done and much harder to find than the book.
Listed by University of California (under "A Fuertes portfolio of Texas birds".) Unlisted by AMNH, Cornell, Harvard, Trinity and Yale, all of which list the book.
Fuertes, Louis Agassiz (1874-1927), Brooks, Allan (1869-1946) (Forbush, Edward Howe[1858-1929])
Portraits / of / New England birds drawn in color by / Louis Agassiz Fuertes / and / Allan Brooks / for / "The Birds of Massachusetts and other New England States" / by / Edward Howe Forbush 30.5 x 23.0 cm. Pp. [i-ii]iii-vi. Publisher's green cloth with gilt printing and Massachusetts medallion on upper cover. Boston, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1932.
i, Title; ii, copyright 1925, 1927, 1929, 1932; printed in U.S.A.; iii, foreword by Arthur W. Gilbert, Commissioner, Massachusetts Department of Agriculture; vi, index of English names. Contains unpaginated colored plates I-XCIII (69 by Fuertes, 24 by Brooks) depicting almost 350 species and printed in half-tone on recto only, the images being 25.2 x 19.3 cm.
These pictures were first published in The birds of Massachusetts and other New England States (1925-1929) where they occupied the entire smaller pages on which they were printed. Here, they are framed within white sheets and the title and plate number are printed above, the identifying legends below. They were subsequently used for Forbush and May's Natural history of birds of eastern and central North America first published in 1939 and are amongst the most widely recognized pictures of American birds. The only comparably known atlas is that by Fuertes first published in Eaton's Birds of New York (1909-1914) and subsequently used for T. Gilbert Pearson's Birds of America, originally published in 1917 with various later versions.
Listed by AMNH, Cornell, Harvard, Trinity and Yale.
Fuertes, Louis Agassiz (1874-1927)(edited by Marcham, Frederick George)
Louis Agassiz Fuertes / & the singular / beauty of birds / paintings, drawings, letters, / assembled and edited by / Frederick George Marcham 35.5 x 27.8 cm. [i-v]vi-xi(1)[1-2]3-220. Original publisher's gray-green cloth with incised vignette of dowitchers on upper cover, gilt lettering to spine. Brown endpapers. Pictorial dust jacket. New York, Harper & Row, 1971.
i, Half-title; ii, "Foreword by Dean Amadon / Introduction by Roger Tory Peterson"; iii, title; iv, dedication to Mary Fuertes Boynton; "First Edition 1971"; ISBN 06-012775-9; credits: designed by Betsy Binns; printed and bound by Amilcare Pizzi S. p. A., Milan; v, contents; vi, acknowledgments; vii, foreword by Dean Amadon; viii, blank; ix, introduction by Roger Tory Peterson; 1, half-title; 3, biographical essay by Marcham; 19, the letters; 89, the plates; 213, a Fuertes bibliography (restricted to commentary about him); 215, general index including common but not scientific bird names; 219, sources for illustrations and plates. Contains plates 1-60, included in pagination and printed on recto in color half-tone with facing letter-press on verso of antecedent plate. Also contains 74 unnumbered, uncolored or tinted text illustrations of which 13 are full-page.
This work is of interest because it contains well printed reproductions of many sketches and paintings by Fuertes that had never been published. The book comprises a brief biography of Fuertes and his letters from the six major expeditions in which he participated as well as pictorial matter. There are several rather shocking errors of identification, the most egregious of which is labeling the magnificent goshawk figured in plate 58, a gyrfalcon. The original pictures reproduced here were the property of his daughter, Mary Fuertes Boynton; of the American Museum of Natural History; of Cornell University; of the Field Museum (Chicago); and of the U. S. Department of the Interior.
This work is listed by AMNH, Cornell, Harvard, Trinity and Yale.
Fuertes, Louis Agassiz (1874-1927)
Impressions of the voices of tropical birds 23.5 x 15.0 cm. [19]8(-191-5)208212[$1 signed “18618o-SM 1915”]; 13 ll. Pp. 299-323(1). Stapled plain gray wrappers. “Smithsonian Report, 1915” (from plates), “Reprinted…. From Bird Lore, vol. 15, no. 6, vol.16, nos.1, 2, 3, 5, 6” (from first page). (Washington, Smithsonian Institution, Annual Report, 1915., 1916.)
299, I., the wrens; 301, II., tinamous, partridges, and solitaires; 304, III., orioles, flycatchers, finches, and thrushes; 309, IV., ant-thrushes, and their allies, and woodhewers; 313, V., toucans, cuckoos, trogons, motmots, and their allies; 318, VI., parrots, guans, and pigeons; the voices of a tropical marsh. Contains uncolored, unpaginated plates 1-16 printed on both sides of eight glossy leaves and including 23 separate paintings. Also contains Fig. 1 (musical notes)
This paper is a rare example of a discursive ornithological work actually written by Fuertes whose artwork adorned most illustrated American ornithological books and articles of the early 20th century. The excellent illustrations of neotropical birds are not nearly so well known as those he did of North American species.
Apparently, the paper first appeared in the Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution for 1915 (actually published in 1916) and was excerpted (?simultaneously) in parts for Bird Lore The pagination is clearly that of the original Smithsonian issue but it is not clear to me who issued the reprint and how it was made.
OCLC locates approximately 17 copies of this reprint. Not listed by Wood, Zimmer, Trinity, Yale. Listed by AMNH, Cornell, Harvard.
Fuller, Errol
Extinct birds 27.5 x 21.4 Pp. [1-13]14-398[399-400]. Original publisher’s magenta cloth with title in blind on upper cover, in gilt on spine. Colored pictorial dust jacket. Print-decorated endpapers. Revised edition, Comstock Publishing Associates, a division of Cornell University Press, Ithaca 2001
1, Half-title with uncolored photograph of passenger pigeon; 2, frontispiece colored tableau of great auks from an oil painting by Keulemans; 3, title page with vignette of huia; 4, copyright, 2001; first edition copyright, 1987; Designed and produced for Cornell University Press by Errol Fuller; Color separations, printing and binding by Sfera International, Milan, Italy; ISBN 0-8014-3954-X; first hardcover printing; 5, dedication; 6-10, color plates; 11, contents; 12, preface; 13, color plate; 14, introduction; 26, ratites; 52, tinnamous….; 58, albatrosses….; 64, pelicans….; 72, herons….; 78, waterfowl….; 98, birds of prey….; 106, gallinaceous birds; 116, rails….; 152, gulls….; 168, pigeons and doves; 206, parrots; 244, cuckoos….; 262, kingfishers….; 276, perching birds; 376, hypothetical species and mystery birds; 387, acknowledgements; 388, bibliography (about 230 items); 392, index (people, places, birds[mainly by English names]). Contains numerous, unnumbered colored and uncolored illustrations, many full-page, that comprise photographs, reproductions from antecedent books and original art here published for the first time.
This is a systematic and very interesting treatise on extinct birds that contains much unusual information. It is particularly noteworthy for its illustrations. These include many reproductions of book illustrations by Keulemans; a splendid frontispiece from an unpublished oil painting by him; many hitherto unpublished reproductions of original paintings by the author and by Julian Hume; and many photographs of historically important people, birds and bird skins. This revised edition is much enlarged and is preferable to the first edition pf 1987.
This edition listed by AMNH, Cornell, Harvard, Trinity and Yale.
The Lost / Birds of Paradise 28.4 x 20.0 cm. Pp. [1-6]7-19[20-21]22-160. Publisher’s black cloth, gilt spine. Pictorial dust jacket. Shrewsbury, U. K., Swan Hill Press, 1995.
1, Half-title; 3, title; 5, dedication; 7, contents; 8, list of colored plates (I-XXXXIX, some full-page, included in pagination); 9, list of black and white illustrations (Figures 1-58); 11, preface; 12, introduction; 21, species accounts; 150-151, map of New Guinea; 152, acknowledgements; 153, bibliography; 157, index.
This work discusses, in some detail, 19 birds of paradise which are considered to be hybrids, most because they were assigned this status by Streseman in 1930. Illustrations are provided not only for the birds themselves, but also for their putative parents. These illustrations are taken from photographs of the actual specimens, from published scientific reports, and from oil paintings done by the author and by Mary Philcox. There is also much interesting anecdotal information as well as many photographs of people and places that have been associated with birds of paradise.
Fuller, Errol (editor), Harris-Ching, Ray (paintings and drawings), Andrews, J. R. H. et al (text)
A monograph / of the / family Apterygidae / kiwis 33.5 x 26.5 cm. Pp. [1-10]11-187[188-190]; 95 ll. Original mauve cloth with gilt lettering on spine, large blind-stamped lettering on upper cover. Brown endpapers. Pictorial dust jacket. Shrewsbury, England, Swan Hill Press, 1991.
1, Half-title; 2, frontispiece; 3, title; 4, copyright; 5, dedication by Harris-Ching "To Carolyn"; 6-7, colored illustrations; 8, blank; 9, contents; 11, preface by Harris-Ching; 17, a history of kiwi discovery by J. R. H. Andrews; 37, brown kiwis by J. A. Mclennan; 59, South Island brown kiwi by Mclennan; 65, Stewart Island brown kiwi by Mclennan; 69, North Island brown kiwi by Mclennan; 72, great spotted kiwi by mclennan; 86, little spotted kiwi by J. N. Jolly; 97, kiwis in a forest habitat by Ruud Kleinpaste; 139, aviculture of the kiwi by Martin N. Fingland; 155, the kiwi and its egg by William A. Calder; 173, the kiwi in art by Carol Sinclair Smith; 185, index; 188, blank; 189, colored plate; 190, blank. Contains 29 unnumbered full-page colored plates four of which are partially double page. Most of these are after paintings by Harris-Ching but some are after antecedent artists including Keulemans and two are photographs of skulls. Also contains 12 unnumbered colored illustrations that are not full-page, 15 unnumbered uncolored plates mostly after sketches by Harris-Ching but two photographs of eggs and 24 unnumbered, uncolored illustrations that are not full-page, mostly photographs of personages, scenery. Finally, two chapters contain numbered figures 1-2 and 1-19, most of which are graphs.
This work was clearly carried out at the instigation of Harris-Ching as is indicated clearly by his preface and the dedication by him. Apparently, kiwis have been a long-term interest of his. As a vehicle for his kiwi art, he assembled a group of writers to describe various aspects of the kiwi including the various species, the life history and the associated graphical presentations both historically and those by Harris-Ching. Fuller is described by Harris-Ching as the editor but there is little or no evidence of his direct participation which is odd since he is, himself, not only a decent writer but also a pretty good artist.
The main appeal of the book is its art, however, this is tempered by the fact that most (but not all!) of the colored paintings were done in oil which does not reproduce well on paper.
Present in libraries of Cornell, AMNH, Trinity. Unlisted at Harvard, Yale.
Fulton, Robert (1765-1815) (edited by Wright, L. [1838-1908])
The Illustrated Book of Pigeons with Standards for Judging 28 x 22 cm. π41-494[$1 signed]; 200 ll. Pp. [i-v]vi[vii]viii[1]2-392. Title, i; preface, iii; contents, v; list of illustrations, vii; text, 1-386; index, 387. Original gilt-decorated cloth. London, Cassell & Co. Ltd. N. D. (signature on initial blank leaf dated Jan. 17, 1889.)
Contains 49 (of 50, lacking “English Fantails” called for opposite page 329) chromolithographic plates by Vincent Brooks Day & Son after J. W. Ludlow and 71 text woodcut figures.
This is a definitive, posthumously produced work on all aspects of domestic pigeons. It is the second of Cassell’s three massively distinctive late nineteenth century works on domesticated birds, preceded by one on poultry and succeeded by one on cage-birds and canaries. The original edition of the present work is said by Wood to have been issued 1874-1876 although it does not bear a date. The Yale and Trinity copies, also undated, are noted as having the imprint “Cassell, Potter & Galpin” as opposed to simply Cassell. In the case of the work on cage birds, the former designation is said to be the means of distinguishing the original issue from reprints. So it is possible that this copy is not the original issue. Wood lists an 1890 edition, however, this copy has an earlier dated signature.
The chromolithographs in this and the other two comparable works are neither beautiful nor particularly well produced, but they are certainly very striking and once seen, are not soon forgotten.
Trinity, p. 94; Wood, p. 350; Yale, p. 103.
The Richard L. Soffer Ornithology Collection by Richard L. Soffer is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at www.amherst.edu.