H. Seebohm | The geographical distribution of the family charadriidae, London, [1887-1888]. green half morocco

Books from a Private Collection

Henry Seebohm

The geographical distribution of the family charadriidae, or the plovers, sandpipers, snipes, and their allies. London and Manchester: printed by Taylor & Francis for Henry Sotheran & Co., [1887-1888]

FIRST EDITION, large 4to (315 x 250 mm). 21 hand-coloured lithographed plates by and after John Gerrard Keulemans, wood-engraved title vignette and numerous illustrations by or after J.G. Millais, G.E. Lodge, Charles Whymper and others, contemporary green half morocco, marbled edges, marbled endpapers, endleaves slightly spotted, extremities slightly rubbed

A CLASSIC MONOGRAPH OF THE SHORE BIRDS OF THE WORLD: THE PLOVERS, SANDPIPERS, AND SNIPE.

The plates include birds from Africa, South America, New Zealand, and Madagascar, and are the work of John Gerrard Keulemans, "the major bird book illustrator for 30 years at the end of the 19th century" (Jackson, Dictionary of Bird Artists of the World). As Seebohm explains in the preface, the main impetus for the work came from the collection and initial research of James Edmund Harting, with subsequent information coming from the collections of Swinhoe and Shelley, as well as the author's own researches. He also made use of the national collections in the British Museum, Salvin and Godman's collection of South American birds, and the Smithsonian's collection of birds from the Pacific Islands.

LITERATURE:

Anker 455; Fine Birds Books, p. 106; Nissen IVB 850; McGill/Wood, p. 561; Zimmer, p. 568