Paris, P. Bertrand, 1857-1858.
Folio [358 x 270 mm.] of (4) ll, (48) pp. of text and 48 numbered color plates, (1) l. of table. The last plate is numbered by mistake LXXIX instead of XLVIII. Bound in green half-buckram, flat spine with title in gilt letters. Contemporary binding.
First edition of this superb iconography of parrots.
Brunet, III, 1034; Nissen IVB 887; Anker 479; Fine Bird Books, p. 108.
The book was published in 12 parts, illustrated with 4 plates each.
« A necessary supplement to the works of Levaillant and Saint-Hilaire on Parrots ». (F. Gallatin, Catalogue of a collection of books on ornithology, p. 123)
“A most important, systematic, and well-illustrated contribution to the literature of the Parrots” (Wood).
With this book, Charles de Souancé (1823-1896) carries on and completes the ornithological research on parrots previously conducted by Levaillant and summarized in his Histoire naturelle des Perroquets published in 1801-1805.
The Baron of Souancé carries on and completes the work conducted by his two predecessors with his “Iconography of parrots” which is published in parts from 1857 to 1858 and in which he describes 48 parrots discovered after 1820.
His research was made easier by the rich collection of the Prince of Essling, his uncle, but also by the Jardin des Plantes in Paris and by the various museums in France and abroad.
The present work is illustrated with 48 plates brilliantly contemporary hand-colored, the first 15 were made by E. Blanchard, with the parrots, branches and foliages colored; the following ones were made by J. Daverne with only the birds colored.
These beautiful plates present: the Blue-crowned parakeet, the Red-cheeked macaw, the Cactus parakeet, the Budgerigar Aztec, the Yellow-naped parrot, the Golden-winged parrot, etc…
A superb copy of this iconography of parrots illustrated with 48 plates finely contemporary hand-colored.
Location of copies: 3 in France: Sainte-Genevieve Library, Museum of Natural History in Paris and B.n.F.
