Brehm, Christian Ludwig. First edition of a "classic treatise on mid-European avifauna"

BREHM, CHRISTIAN LUDWIG

HANDBUCH DER NATURGESCHICHTE ALLER VÖGEL DEUTSCHLANDS. ILMENAU: DRUCK UND VERLAG VON BERNH. FRIEDR. VOIGHT, 1831

8vo (8 3/4 x 5 in.; 222 x 127 mm). 47 hand-colored engraved plates by Müller after Bädeker. Original paper-backed plain boards, paper spine label; overall rubbed, vertical cracks to spine.

First edition of a "classic treatise on mid-European avifauna" (Wood)

A German pastor in a village south of Leipzig, Brehm was a noted ornithologist and bird skin collector. Brehm's collection of 15,000 bird skins were purchased by Lord Rothschild for his Natural History Museum at Tring. Interestingly, this work by Brehm is referenced by Charles Darwin, who borrowed a copy in 1856 and who discusses Brehm's division of species in the second part of his "big book" (see Stauffer, ed., Charles Darwin's Natural Selection 114).

REFERENCE:

Wood 255; Ayer/Zimmer 90; Nissen 140