Descrizione

4to [29 x 22 cm]; xviii, 251 pp, 14 plates including frontis, index of names and geographical index. original red cloth, gilt spine title lettering, 2 pages with barely visible foxing in margin, else a fine, clean and unmarked copy. A picture of this book is available upon request by email. Based mainly on the collection of books containing plates with figures of birds and their eggs now in the University Library at Copenhagen and including a catalogue of these works, the book includes an important and detailed 87 page description of the literary history of bird books and their illustrations, woodcuts, art of printing, engraving, early illustrated works from the beginning of printing to the 20th century. The catalogue of over 900 of the most important illustrated bird books gives complete description, collations, description of the importance of each book, etc, making this work and important reference on the subject.