Birds, The Art of Ornithology

As a boy growing up in the North Wales farmland, moorland, marshes, lakes and coast, the author became passionate about the birdlife that surrounded him. A member of a field club and an ornithological society, he produced a “pompously titled” Coloured Plates of Birds Observed in Flintshire, Volume 1.

It was the sure-fire forerunner to this exceedingly delectable volume, and a sign that it was “a love affair that has not abated”. Tracing the ancient connection between birds and artists, he sources dictionaries, studies woodcuts and a vast array of mediums to produce outstanding colour plates to wow even the non-bird lover. Indulge your senses in a genteel 1626 Dodo, through triumphant 1747 Rainbow-billed Toucan, amusing 1754 Hoopoe (the male cries “hoop-hoophoop” during breeding season) to a radiant 1874 Flame Bowerbird. Plus, plunder the under-drawer of the book’s presentation case to find 36 bird prints.