Travel, Photographs, Maps and Natural History

Travel, Photographs, Maps and Natural History

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 191. William Beebe | A Monograph of the Pheasants, 4 volumes, London: Witherby & Co., 1918-22.

William Beebe | A Monograph of the Pheasants, 4 volumes, London: Witherby & Co., 1918-22

Lot Closed

November 17, 05:10 PM GMT

Estimate

1,000 - 1,500 GBP

Lot Details

Description

William Beebe

A Monograph of the Pheasants. London: Witherby & Co., 1918-22


FIRST EDITION, number 321 of 600 copies, 4 volumes, folio (406 x 288mm.), titles printed in red and black, 90 coloured lithographed or collotyped plates after A. Thorburn, G.E. Lodge, H. Gronvold, L.A. Fuertes, Chas. R. Knight, H. Jones, and E. Megargee, 88 photogravure plates (many with two images) from photographs by Beebe and others, 20 distribution maps printed in red and black by Stanford's (chromolithographs and photogravures with captioned tissue-guards), original gilt-lettered maroon cloth, occasional light spotting and browning to extremities, binding lightly rubbed "Perhaps the greatest ornithological work of the present century, notable not only for its beauty and the wealth of information it contains, but also for the unusual grace of its prose" (Mengel). Beebe's text is based not only upon his extensive expeditions through Asia, but also upon his study of the collections of the leading natural history museums around the world.


LITERATURE:

Anker 31; Nissen IVB 84; Zimmer p.49