Beschreibung
Gregory Macalister Mathews. The Birds of Australia. With [51] hand-coloured plates. Volume 11 [= Passeriformes (continued): Falcunculidae, Sphenostomidae, Sittidae, Climacteridae, Zosteropidae, Dicaeidae, Pardalotidae, Nectariniidae and Melithreptidae]. G. Witherby & Co. London 1923-1924. XIII, 593 p. together with 51 hand-coloured lithographed plates. New half cloth with spine title as well as mounted title of the original brochure on the front cover and with newly bound white protective leaves for the plates. Folio (352 mm x 259 mm). - Condition: In very good condition. - This is one of the last important monographs in the tradition of ornithological magnificence, published in a strictly limited edition of only 225 copies. "An enormous amount of information is contained in these volumes, in which the literature concerned and the question of nomenclature are fully treated. Under each genus synonyms, a brief diagnosis, a description, and a key to the species are given, while under each form we find a detailed synomyny, information about distribution and, as far as posssible, a description of the adult male, the adult female, the immature bird, and the nestling; the eggs and the nests are also described, and the breedings-months stated. Then follows an account of the habits and life-history of the birds, including long quotations from the literature" (Anker 328). "The [?] most comprehensive systematic treatise on Australian birds [?] profusely illustrated by beautiful hand-colored plates after drawings by Grönvold, Keulemans, Lodge and other well-known artists" (Wood, 454). "[A]ll the plates in my book were prepared from skins in my collection" (Gregory Macalister Mathews: Birds and Books. The story of the Mathews Ornithological library. Canberra 1942, 64). "[G]ive it to the artist, and tell him the attitude in which I thought it should be drawn" (ibid, 65). It "became the basis for the plate. On the smooth white surface of a properly prepared lithographic stone the artist would copy in detail the original drawing, placing accurately, by count or by measurement, each feather, each scute on the leg, each rictral bristle" (ibid). Then "he would be engaged in colouring a copy direct from the bird's skin. [.] The paper used throughout [?] was the best rag paper, made especially for the work" (ibid). - Gregory Macalister Mathews (1876-1949) was an Australian-born amateur ornithologist who spent most of his later life in England. In 1939 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union, and served as its president 1946-1947. Mathews built up collection of 30,000 bird skins and a library of 5,000 books on ornithology. He donated his ornithological library to the National Library of Australia in 1939. Also in 1939 Matthews donated a small collection of Aboriginal ethnographic items from Australia to the British Museum. - Anker 328; Nissen, IVB 605; The Auk 44 (3), p. 435-442; Wood, p. 454; Zimmer II, p. 419-421. Sprache: en 4904 Gramm. Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers RXB-005
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