Daniel Giraud Elliot | Monograph of the Phasianidae, or Family of the Pheasants, 1870-1872, coloured plates

Daniel Giraud Elliot

A Monograph of the Phasianidae, or Family of the Pheasants. New York: published by the author, [1870]-1872

FIRST EDITION, 2 volumes, large folio (597 x 470mm.), dedication to Joseph Wolf, list of subscribers, 79 fine hand-coloured lithographed plates by Joseph Smit and J.G. Keulemans after Joseph Wolf, 2 uncoloured plates of heads and feet, contemporary green half morocco, top edges gilt, very slight spotting (hardly affecting plates), penultimate plate in vol.2 with minor repair in blank area, covers slightly rubbed

"OF THE GREAT NINETEENTH-CENTURY ORNITHOLOGICAL MONOGRAPHS, NONE SAVE AUDUBON'S IS SO SUMPTUOUS AS D.G. ELLIOT'S MONOGRAPH OF THE PHASIANIDAE… a rare American contribution to this elegant class of books. It was entirely illustrated by the incomparable Joseph Wolf" (R.M. Mengel, "Beauty and the Beast: Natural History and Art", The Living Bird, 18, Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, 1979-1980).

LITERATURE:

Anker 130; Fine Bird Books, p.74; Nissen IVB 295; Zimmer, p.206