Beschreibung:

SHARPE, Richard Bowdler (1847-1909). Monograph of the Paradiseidae, or Birds of Paradise, and Ptilonorhynchidae, or Bower-Birds . London: Henry Sotheran & Co. [printed by Taylor and Francis], 1891-1898.
SHARPE, Richard Bowdler (1847-1909). Monograph of the Paradiseidae, or Birds of Paradise, and Ptilonorhynchidae, or Bower-Birds . London: Henry Sotheran & Co. [printed by Taylor and Francis], 1891-1898. 2 volumes in 8 ORIGINAL PARTS, Folio (565 x 385 mm). Letterpress title-pages, preface, introduction, text, appendix, lists of contents, lists of plates, small format “Notice to Subscribers” dated 30 December 1896 tipped in to part VII. 79 hand-colored lithographic plates, the majority by and after W. Hart or by Hart after J. Gould, a smaller number by Hart after J. G. Keulemans or by and after Keulemans, printed by Mintern Brothers. Woodcuts and half-tone illustrations in text. (Some light spotting at beginning and end, occasional light spotting to text.) ORIGINAL CLOTH-BACKED PRINTED BOARDS (some light staining or rubbing, a few small tears to cloth). A FINE COPY OF THE FIRST EDITION IN THE RARE ORIGINAL PARTS OF THIS “EXCELLENT MONOGRAPH” (Zimmer). The striking life-size plates led Sitwell to call Sharpe's monograph “the last of the fine bird books” ( Fine Bird Books , p. 107). Sharpe had appealed for subscribers for a proposed monograph on “the Avifauna of Paupasia” in his preface to John Gould's Birds of New Guinea , which Sharpe had completed after Gould's death in 1881. The response to his appeal was clearly enthusiastic, for only three years later, the first part of the Paradiseidae was published. Some of the plates are printed from the stones used in the Birds of New Guinea , but “a great number of the species are here figured for the first time,” according to Sharpe's preface. Ayer/Zimmer p. 581; Fine Bird Books p. 107; Nissen IVB 865; Wood p.656 (“a splendid monograph”).