Beschreibung:

Eiler Lauritz Theodor Lehn Schioeler (1874-1929) Danmarks Fugle med henblik paa de i Groenland, paa Faeroeerne og i Kongeriget Island forekommende Arter . Copenhagen: Gyldendal, 1925-1931. 3 volumes, 2° (375 x 280mm). Titles printed in red and black with vignettes, half-titles. 275 plates, 172 printed in colour, after Johannes Larsen Gerhard Heilmann, Henning Scheel et al. , colour-printed map of Greenland after C. Lillie, colour- and monochrome-printed illustrations and maps in the text, monochrome head- and tail pieces, letterpress address to subscribers loosely inserted. Original half vellum, gilt leather lettering-pieces, t.e.g. (vellum slightly discoloured, upper hinge of volume I cracked, lettering-pieces lightly chipped and rubbed with minor loss). FIRST EDITION OF 'THE MOST COMPREHENSIVE AND BEST ILLUSTRATED WORK ON THE BIRDS OF DENMARK AND ITS EUROPEAN DEPENDANCIES YET PUBLISHED' (Wood). Although Schioler's great conspectus of the avifauna of Denmark, Greenland, the Faroe Islands and other Danish possessions was cut short by his death in 1929, it remains celebrated for the range and depth of its coverage: 'under each species the author gives the synonymy, the vernacular names in different European languages, a diagnosis, brief information about the occurence in Denmark and the other lands concerned, a detailed description with depiction of the various plumages, and information about the ecology and occurence of the species' (Anker). The text is complemented by plates and numerous illustrations depicting the anatomical details, osteology and varying plumages of the birds, after drawings and photographs by various artists. Particularly notable are the plates after Larsen, Heilmann and Scheel, which make Danmarks Fugle 'one of the best illustrated bird books of the time' (Christine L. Jackson, Dictionary , p.280). Anker 442; BM(NH) VIII, p.1152; Nissen IVB 826; Wood p.554 (volumes I-II only); Zimmer p.553 (volume I only, 'profusely illustrated with excellent plates'). (3)