Schlegel | Traite de fauconnerie, 1844-1853

SCHLEGEL, HERMANN AND A.H. VERSTER VAN WULVERHORST

Traité de Fauconnerie. Leiden and Dusseldorf: Chez Arnz & Comp, 1844-1853

FIRST EDITION, 2 parts in one volume, folio (690 x 523mm.), tinted lithographed title-page, on india paper mounted, incorporating 11 vignettes illustrative of falconry after and by J. B. Sonderland, 16 plates (comprising: 12 hand-coloured lithographed plates of falcons after J. Wolf, 2 hand-coloured lithographed plates of falconry equipment, 2 tinted lithographed plates, on india paper mounted, of heron hawking), bound to style in green half morocco, spine gilt

“THE FINEST WORK ON FALCONRY WHICH HAS EVER BEEN PRODUCED; not only on account of the beauty of the plates, wherein the hawks are depicted life-size and of the natural colours, but also for the general accuracy of the letterpress" (Harting).

Joseph Wolf’s falcon plates established his reputation as a bird artist and led to commissions from many other of the most noted ornithological authors of the day, including Elliot and Gould. Gould, in fact owned Wolf’s original watercolour for the plate of the Greenland falcon.

“THE LIFE-SIZE ILLUSTRATIONS OF BIRDS ARE BY FAR THE FINEST EVER PRODUCED IN ANY BOOK ON FALCONRY. It is impossible to describe the mellowness and beauty of the colouring” (Schwerdt).

LITERATURE:

Fine Bird Books, p.105; Harting 194; Landwehr 174; Nissen IVB 832; Schwerdt 2:150; Zimmer, p.554