Coloured illustrations of British birds, and their eggs.

7 vol. 8vo: 1.: 45 + 20 pl.; 2.: 45 + 14 pl.; 3.: 45 + 13 pl.; 4.: 44 + 16 pl.; 5.: 45 + 15 pl.; 6.: 44 + 16 pl.; 7.: 51 + 17 pl. (some sm. spots, vol. 3: large tear on pp. 110-111).

Contemp. polished calf, gilt spines on 5 bands, gilt turn-ins, a.e.g. (corners bumped, most title labels on the spine worn, damaged or missing).

New, enlarged ed. of "the finest and most complete atlas of portraits of British avifauna ever published" with a fine sensitivity for detail and colour in the lithographs which represent the birds in a natural, lifelike manner. Meyer decided on the publication after the success of the folio ed. "Illustrations of British Birds" (1835-50). It resulted from a joint effort by his spouse, Mary Anne Moor, and children. She is considered a better artist than Meyer himself. She executed the drawings and drew many of the plates upon the stones, while the hand-colouring was done by the children. To speed up the tedious colouring, their son Charles invented a system of stencilling the colouring, thus keeping the lines clean. Its homespun nature resulted in many adjustments as the series progressed, the later editions contain a varying number of plates. The plates of eggs in particular vary from copy to copy. This copy has 422 coloured and 8 b/w engr. ill. Besides 322 portraits of birds, there are 100 coloured pl. of eggs and 8 b/w pl. in the 1st, 6th and 7th vol. (see p. 139).
Ref. Nissen IVB, 628. - Wood, p. 462. - Anker, p. 58. - C. E. Jackson, Bird Illustrators, pp. 59-62. - Zimmer IVB p.433.