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Second Book of Birds

Olive Thorne Miller (1830-1918) penned this introduction to bird behavior by family in 1902. Louis Agassiz Fuertes contributed eight watercolors from which the color plates were produced. Miller herself worked from specimens to draft the black plates, which are quite good in their own right (see esp. Brown Thrasher, Loggerhead Shrike, Cuckoo). Fuertes's Barn Swallow and Osprey are striking in composition. His Kingbird may be an homage to Mark Catesby.

May 15, 2012

Photos: 22

2012-05-11

May 11, 2012

Photos: 19

Graylag x Canada Goose Hybrid, Bellbrook, OH

Feb 27, 2012

Photos: 5

U.S. Postal Service Birds of Prey Strip 2012

Jan 18, 2012

Photos: 1

San Pedro Valley

Dec 31, 2011

Photos: 189

Greater Scaup

May 29, 2011

Photos: 18

Wilson's Phalarope

Extralimital migrant Wilson's Phalarope found feeding in a flooded farm field.

Apr 27, 2010

Photos: 2

American Golden Plover

Life list bird 4/27/10.

Apr 27, 2010

Photos: 2

Sora

Sora out in the open. Spring Valley Wildlife Area.

Apr 24, 2010

Photos: 1

Matt Adrian (aka the Mincing Mockingbird)

The first living artist to appear in the Avigraphicon! Matt Adrian, aka the Mincing Mockingbird, has granted your curator permission to "hang" his beautiful and witty bird paintings. His works are available to the discerning investor at: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=75271 (Google: html in the descriptions, please). Hie thee thither forthwith and spend like a sailor on shore leave. Artists have been known to expire penniless and syphillitic in the gutter, muttering to themselves and reeking of absinthe. It is one's civic duty to ensure that our storm drains flow unobstructed by Matt and his ilk. Unlike the other images in this gallery, the images in this album are under copyright. All are copyright Matt Adrian.

Apr 6, 2008

Photos: 21

The Birds of America (1 of 2)

Audubon's classic, and the finest illustrated book ever published. These scans were made from the "Double Elephant" 1st Edition by the Musee de la Civilisation. I've brightened them to bring out feather detail where necessary, which has occasionally bleached the floral minutiae. But this archive is about birds, not plants. So there.

Mar 1, 2008

Photos: 218

The Birds of America (2 of 2)

Feb 29, 2008

Photos: 219

The American Ornithology

Alexander Wilson's illustrations from the original eight-volume publication of this pioneering ornithological work. George Ord completed the writing of the final volume following Wilson's death. Lucien Bonaparte later contributed 27 supplementary illustrations to the Ornithology to account for species Wilson had not painted.

Feb 28, 2008

Photos: 118

Supplement to the American Ornithology

Alexander Wilson's effort to issue a complete ornithology of the birds of North America was halted by his death in 1813. His original nine volume set was completed by George Ord, but many birds were still missing. Bonaparte, Prince of Canino, tried to make the work more complete by issuing a four volume supplement from 1825 to 1833. This contained 27 extra illustrations engraved by Alexander Lawson and text by Bonaparte. The prints were drawn by Titian Ramsey Peale and Alexander Rider, except for one by John James Audubon.

Feb 27, 2008

Photos: 31

Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands

Mark Catesby's illustrations.

Feb 26, 2008

Photos: 168

Fauna Boreali-Americana

The complete, hand-colored, lithographic plates from the second volume (Birds) of Swainson's Fauna Boreali-Americana (1831) which he co-authored with John Richardson.

Feb 25, 2008

Photos: 52

Illustrations of the Genera of Birds

Original hand-colored illustrations from this exceedingly scarce first edition work, dated 1846. Captain Brown was a well-known natural history scientist who held many memberships in scientific organizations in 19th century England including the Royal Physical Society, the Wernerian Natural History Society, the Manchester Geological and Natural History Societies. He was also trained as an engraver. He traveled extensively and drew his subjects from live specimens he found on his travels. He published several works on shells, a Naturalist’s Miscellany on parrots & notably a new edition of Alexander Wilson’s Illustrations of American Ornithology, of which only eight copies are known to exist. Many of the illustrations in Illustrations of the Genera of Birds are of American birds, so it is likely he was motivated by the success of the earlier publication to produce his own work. References include Dictionary of Bird Artists by Jackson p176

Feb 24, 2008

Photos: 20

Illustrations of the Birds of California, Texas, Oregon, British and Russian America

First Edition, 1856. John Cassin (1813-1869).

Feb 24, 2008

Photos: 52

The Birds of Eastern North America

Feb 22, 2008

Photos: 33

Illustrations of the American Ornithology

Captain Thomas Brown's illustrations following Alexander Wilson and Lucien Bonaparte's seminal text, originally published in the three-volume Jameson edition of the American Ornithology. These plates are from the later "Illustrations" volumes published between 1831 and 1835. The original publication of the American Ornithology was illustrated by Wilson himself, with 27 supplementary plates by Bonaparte. Brown expanded the works of Wilson and Bonaparte to include 161 additional birds, and enlarged the illustrations of 87 others. Among the added representations are images based on the work of Rider, Audubon, Selby, and Lizars, in addition to several other artists. In all, over 500 birds are presented.

Feb 20, 2008

Photos: 115

The Zoology of New York; or The New York Fauna, Vol. II (Birds)

James DeKay. 1844.

Feb 19, 2008

Photos: 143

Studer's Popular Ornithology: Birds of North America

Published 1878. lates by Theodore Jasper.

Feb 16, 2008

Photos: 98

7th Annual Report of the New York State Fisheries, Forest, and Game Commission

Published 1902. Plates by Louis Agassiz Fuertes.

Feb 14, 2008

Photos: 11

Bird Portraits in Color

Plates from the 1934 first edition of Thomas Sadler Roberts's "Bird Portraits in Color."

Feb 12, 2008

Photos: 98

Fuertes's Church & Dwight Trading Cards

In the 1920's Louis Agassiz Fuertes painted 90 watercolor bird portraits for the Church and Dwight Company, makers of Arm and Hammer Baking Soda, for reproduction as trading cards included within packages of the product. Screen-printed cards are shown, alongside the original watercolors where those images were available. Note LAF's fascination with raptors. He depicts them in a tremendously menacing fashion, especially the comic-book flare and dramatic lighting of his owls.

Feb 12, 2008

Photos: 73

Biologia Centrali-Americana

A massive survey of Central American flora and fauna, kindly digitized by the Smithsonian. The "Aves" portion consisted of four volumes, the ultimate of which contained all of the 84 plate tabs, which are all del. Keulemanns with sculpting by himself mostly, but with others.

Feb 12, 2008

Photos: 84

The Birds of Great Britain, Vols. I through III

Less ambitious in scope than his Birds of Australia, Asia, or Europe, Birds of Britain (five volumes in serial 1862-73)shows Gould refining his presentation by expanding displays of variant plumages, genders, nests and nestlings. The book's smaller millieu gave Gould considerable latitude to treat the subject species repeatedly in variation. Gould again employs H.C. Richter (mostly), with a bit of Hart and Wolf with a great efficiency built over 20 years of constant collaboration since the death of Elizabeth in 1840. And by now he had gained a market, printing 750 copies with great - and quickly justified -confidence. Gould was said to have been particularly proud of this work, and with good reason. Scans from the New York Public Library digital collection, cropped only rarely.

Feb 11, 2008

Photos: 199

The Birds of Great Britain, Vols. IV and V

Feb 10, 2008

Photos: 181

A Natural History of British Birds (1 of 2)

A History of British Birds was published from June 1850 in monthly parts over a period of some seven years. Each folio consisted of text and 4 hand-coloured plates. In all, it included 397 plates.

Feb 9, 2008

Photos: 180

A Natural History of British Birds (2 of 2)

Feb 8, 2008

Photos: 180

The Natural History of British Birds

Published 1791. Plates by Edward Donovan.

Feb 7, 2008

Photos: 77

A Natural History of Uncommon Birds and Gleanings of Natural History

George Edwards.

Feb 7, 2008

Photos: 152

The MacGillivray Art Collection of the Natural History Museum, London

123 watercolors of birds by William MacGillivray.

Feb 7, 2008

Photos: 125

The British Miscellany

Feb 6, 2008

Photos: 8

The Birds of Europe, Vols. I through III

John Gould

Feb 5, 2008

Photos: 242

The Birds of Europe, Vols. IV and V

Feb 4, 2008

Photos: 204

The Naturalist's Miscellany

George Shaw and later, Elizabeth Nodder, with copperplates by Frederick Polydore Nodder and Ralph Nodder. Pulbished in (at least) 27 volumes from 1790-1813.

Feb 3, 2008

Photos: 46

A History of the Birds of Europe Not Observed in the British Isles

Charles Robert Bree. These are from the first volume of the 2nd, expanded edition, which volume covers birds of prey.

Feb 3, 2008

Photos: 36

Illuminerade Figurer till Skandinaviens Fauna

Sven Nilsson, a prominent Swedish zoologist of the 19th century, published his opus, the Scandinavian Fauna, in three volumes in the 1820s. I'm not sure the extent to which the original Fauna was illustrated, but these lithographs, made for a related "Illustrated Figures of the Scandinavian Fauna" (1832) seem to have been made all or in part exclusively for this related edition. It is a comprehensive fauna, replete with quadrupeds, insects, etc. I've archived only the birds as is my custom, so plate numbers in the captions are in order of appearance, but non-consecutive. The artists are obscure, which is particularly unfortunate in the case of M. Körner, whose passerines in particular are photorealistic to a degree only Travies had displayed by the 1820s. The European Goldfinch on the gallery cover is exemplary. I'm grateful to the New York Public Library for scanning this obscure treat, which is one of my favorites.

Feb 3, 2008

Photos: 162

A Century of Birds from the Himalaya Mountains

John Gould 1830-1832.

Feb 2, 2008

Photos: 6

A History of the Birds of Ceylon

Feb 2, 2008

Photos: 30

A Handbook to the Birds of Egypt

According to these plates' source, one "mmslouis": This is a rare volume in royal octavo from George Ernest Shelley, who specialized in African birds. It was published in London by John Van Voorst. There is an introductory narrative of the author's exploits in the region, which is of interesting and impressionable note. There are 14 illustrations, all of them by [John Gerrard] Keulemans.

Feb 1, 2008

Photos: 14

Birds of South Africa

Feb 1, 2008

Photos: 12

The Birds of Australia, Vols. I through III

Jan 31, 2008

Photos: 238

The Birds of Australia, Vols. IV and V

Jan 30, 2008

Photos: 196

The Birds of Australia, Vols. VI, VII, and Supplement

Jan 29, 2008

Photos: 248

The Avifauna of Laysan

Jan 15, 2008

Photos: 58

Various Bird Prints

Jan 2, 2008

Photos: 133

Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux (1 of 2)

Mar 20, 2007

Photos: 253

Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux (2 of 2)

Mar 19, 2007

Photos: 252

Oeuvres Complètes de Buffon, Augmentées par M. F. Cuvier

Mar 18, 2007

Photos: 1

Ornithologie: Histoire des Oiseaux, Peints dans Tous Leurs Aspects Apparents et Sensibles

These scans are compiled from the Smithsonian Institution Library's mounting of a somewhat cryptic volume, from which I've omitted a handful of domestic chickens, as is my wont. Here's how the SIL describes it: "The Smithsonian Institution Libraries’ volume of Martinet’s engravings, carrying the spine-title Ornithologie and mounted here in SIL’s digital edition, the plates which are dated match those listed in the Trinity copy’s record, with the addition of 163 (1791) and 174 (1792). This, combined with the page dimensions, the format, and lack of other known work by Martinet, leads to the conclusion that the volume is an incomplete copy of the rare folio edition of the Histoire des Oiseaux, Peints dans Tous Leurs Aspects Apparents et Sensibles. This identification has been confirmed by Mr. Jeffrey Kaimowitz, Curator of Special Collections at Trinity College, who compared the Trinity/Martin copy with the images of the present digital edition."

Mar 13, 2007

Photos: 165

A Natural History of Birds

Eleazer Albin's ultimate work, including 306 color plates published in three volumes by W. Innes and R. Manby, London, culminating in 1738. Albin's daughter, Elizabeth, assisted him coloring most plates, and several are after her drawings rather than her father's. Only Volume Three is complete here at the time of this writing, while Volume One lacks only eight plates. Volume Two is badly incomplete (30 or so plates out of 105, several unidentified as to number), and likely to expand only slowly.

Mar 10, 2007

Photos: 223

Dictionnaire Universel d’Histoire Naturelle

Orbigny’s extraordinary work contains almost 10,000 pages of text, in double columns, in addition to a separate 3-volume atlas of colored plates. It was a great collaborative effort of some 50 leading French scholars, numerous artists specializing in natural history, engravers, and printers. It is considered probably the best-illustrated encyclopedia of natural history. The ornithological plates were entirely drawn by Edouard Traviès. Ronsil says of the dictionary: “Il contient 53 magnifiques planches d’oiseaux dues au talent d’Edouard Traviès: leurs impressions en couleurs est d’une extrême finesse et les teintes vraiment superbes. Seuls les sujets sont coloriés, le reste des planches (fonds, arbres, branches, fleurs, etc.) est laissé en noir.”

Mar 5, 2007

Photos: 82

Collection of Various Foreign and Little-Known Birds (after Edwards)

These lifelike hand-colored engravings are from the work entitled A Natural History of Uncommon Birds by George Edwards. Edwards, often referred to as the "Father of British Ornithology," took great care in etching the original drawings and personally supervising the coloring in order to assure accuracy in the finished product. The 4-volume work was published in 1743-1751. In the following years, from 1758-1764, he produced three supplementary volumes originally entitled Gleanings of Natural History. The two series are often considered one work today. In the seven volumes are contained engravings and descriptions of more than 600 subjects which had not before been illustrated or described. Demand for this work was so great that from 1749-1776, German engraver and art dealer, Johann Michael Seligmann (1720-1762) re-engraved the Edwards plates in Nuremburg.

Mar 1, 2007

Photos: 24

Collection of Various Foreign and Little-Known Birds (after Catesby)

Johann Seligmann's engravings after the watercolors of Mark Catesby. Full set consists of 220 plates.

Feb 28, 2007

Photos: 36

Les Oiseaux Plus Remarquables Par Leurs Formes et Leurs Couleurs

Feb 7, 2007

Photos: 12

Oiseaux Dores ou a Reflets Mettaliques

Jean-Baptiste Audebert produced 190 plates for this combined publication of "Histoire Naturelle et Generale des Colibris, Oiseaux-mouches, Jacamars et Pomerops" and "L'histoire des Grimpereaux et des Oiseaux de Paradis." The book was published by Crapelet, Paris, in 1802 two years after the artist's death under the guidance of his friend, the naturalist Louis Pierre Vieillot, who wrote the text accompanying the plates from Audebert's notes.

Mar 17, 2006

Photos: 12

Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux de Paradis et des Rolliers

Mar 13, 2006

Photos: 117

Histoire des Colibris, Oiseaux-mouches, Jacamars et Promerops

Audebert's seminal work.

Mar 10, 2006

Photos: 1

Illustrations of the Family of Psittacidœ, or Parrots

Mar 7, 2006

Photos: 43

Cabinet du Petit Naturaliste, par Madame D.

Mar 1, 2005

Photos: 1

Gleanings from the Menagerie and Aviary at Knowsley Hall

It's uncanny how, throughout history, the 20th child of any union has tended to end up a bird-painting, nonsense-writing polymath. Take Edward Lear...