A History of the Birds of New Zealand

2 volumes in-4 de : I/ LXXXIV et 250 pp., (3) ff., 24 planches ; II/ XV et 359., 26 planches (d’après les dessins de J. G. Keulemans).
Demi-chagrin vert à coins, double filet or sur les plats, dos à nerfs orné de même. Reliure de l’époque.

364 X 276 mm.

Buller, Sir Walter Lawry. A History of the Birds of New Zealand.
London: Published (for the subscribers) by the author, 1888.

Second edition, limited to 1,000 copies, greatly revised and expanded with new plates drawn by Keulemans. It includes 176 species.
Anker 85. Bagnall 757. Fine Bird Books p. 64. Hocken pp. 386-87. Jackson p. 91. Nissen IVB 163. Casey Wood p. 269. Zimmer p. 115.

The first edition of this work, published in 1873, only presented 35 plates of birds.

A classic of ornithological literature and the leading authority on New Zealand birds, the plates ranking amongst Keulemans finest.
"The text gives a complete synomy for each species, describes both sexes and every condition of plumage, and tells the life-history of each bird from personal observations made by the author during a period of twenty years." (Anker)

1,000 copies were printed by subscription, of which only about 250 were available for Europe and America.

Buller, born in New Zealand, was a keen ornithologist from an early age "with a confidence unusual in colonial scientists he set out to describe and name new species of birds himself rather than submitting them to the metropolitan authorities.
His Essay on the Ornithology of New Zealand, written for the Dunedin Exhibition in 1865, established him as a local authority on the subject, and, after he sent copies to influential scientists in Britain and Europe, also brought him to wider attention. In 1871 he used the Essay to obtain the degree of doctor of natural history from the University of Tübingen. By this time he had assembled the materials for a comprehensive work, and obtained leave to go to London to publish it.
A History of the Birds of New Zealand, illustrated by the ornithological artist J. G. Keulemans, was a fine bird book in the best style" (R. A. Galbreath for DNB).

Johannes Gerardus Keulemans (1842-1912), began his career as a taxidermist providing stuffed birds to the State Museum of Natural History at Leiden. The director of that museum encouraged Keulemans to pursue his love of natural history, where he obtained a scientific appointment after an expedition to West Africa in 1865 and 1866. His accomplishments in illustration came to the notice of Richard Bowdler Sharpe, later a director of the British Museum, who encouraged him to move to England.

Keulemans quickly achieved wide recognition and established himself as the most popular bird artist of the late Victorian period. He regularly provided illustrations for "The Ibis" and "The Proceedings of the Zoological Society". He illustrated many important bird books.

A beautiful copy of this classic of ornithological literature and the leading authority on New Zealand birds.