William Beebe | A monograph of the pheasants, 1918-1922, 4 volumes

William Beebe

A monograph of the pheasants. London: Witherby & Co., 1918-1922

EDITION, number 24 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), TWO AUTOGRAPH LETTERS SIGNED by the author and a pen and ink sketch of Cabot’s tragopan loosely inserted, original gilt-lettered maroon cloth

"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