Description:
New York: D. Appleton & Company, 1863. FIRST EDITION. With 31 beautiful hand-colored lithographed plates after D. G. Elliot, E. Maubert, A. Mesnel and 1 unsigned plate after C.P. Tholey. Modern brown morocco, author and title in gilt on spine, a.e.g. First edition, a fine copy of Elliot's beautiful paintings of the pittas, small Asian forest birds whose brilliant colors and bold patterns would be a treat for any artist. This was Elliot's first publication with his own illustrations. He includes in every plate a showy flower, usually in shades that further enhance the vividness of each page. Elliot was able to portray the pittas with a tropical exuberance and animation as they variously pursue a shiny beetle, recoil from a pink-and-black snake, or take wing after a fly. Elliot's chosen illustrator, Paul Louis Oudart, died after producing only four drawings. He thereafter created the remaining drawings except for one by Maubert and one by Mensel. A stunning work ornithological work. Not in Anker;…
Read More A Monograph of the Pittidae, or, Family of Ant Thrushes by ELLIOT, Daniel Giraud (1835-1915) - 1863
by ELLIOT, Daniel Giraud (1835-1915)
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A Monograph of the Pittidae, or, Family of Ant Thrushes
by ELLIOT, Daniel Giraud (1835-1915)
- Used
New York: D.Appleton & Co, 1863. Folio. (21 7/16 x 13 5/8 inches). 1p. dedication to Philip Lutley Sclater, 1p. list of subscribers. 31 fine hand-coloured lithographic plates, heightened with gum arabic, after Elliot (24), Paul Louis Oudart (4), E. Maubert (1), A.Mesnel (1) and one unsigned, drawn on stone by C. P.Tholey and others, printed and coloured by Bowen & Co. of Philadelphia. Expert repairs at margins of frontispiece plate. Expertly bound to style in half dark green morocco and green cloth covered boards, spine with raised bands in seven compartment, ruled in gilt on either side of each band, lettered in gilt
A fine copy of the first edition. A rare and spectacular ornithological work, the first book by Elliot with his own illustrations, and the scarcest of his major monographs.
"Elliot was not his own painter, except among the Pittas. Early in his career, in 1863, he had brought out his book on the Pittidae, or Ant-Thrushes with plates of a delightful ... character, after his own drawings" (Fine Bird Books). Elliot's chosen illustrator, Paul Louis Oudart, died after completing only 3 or 4 plates, and rather than risk a hurried instruction to another artist, Elliot "felt compelled to turn draughtsman myself" (Preface) and executed all of the other drawings, bar one each by Maubert and Mesnel. The illustrations and indeed the birds themselves represent the pinnacle of Elliot's pictorial work. The Pittidae described are native to Borneo, Nepal, Ceylon, the Philippines, New Guinea, and Cambodia amongst other places. Their plumage is rendered in vibrant shades of blues, greens and reds, and the birds (many of whom are shown feeding their young) are placed against beautifully drawn landscapes. Elliot was also careful to ensure that the flowers and foliage shown in detail with the birds were appropriate for the species shown. When a second edition of this work was issued, most of the plates were redrawn by John Gould's artist, William Hart, and the text was completely rewritten.
BM (NH) I, p.522; Fine Bird Books (1990), p. 95; Nissen IVB 292; Sabin 22228 (noting that only 200 copies were printed); Wood p.332; Whittell pp.225-226; Zimmer p.208.
A fine copy of the first edition. A rare and spectacular ornithological work, the first book by Elliot with his own illustrations, and the scarcest of his major monographs.
"Elliot was not his own painter, except among the Pittas. Early in his career, in 1863, he had brought out his book on the Pittidae, or Ant-Thrushes with plates of a delightful ... character, after his own drawings" (Fine Bird Books). Elliot's chosen illustrator, Paul Louis Oudart, died after completing only 3 or 4 plates, and rather than risk a hurried instruction to another artist, Elliot "felt compelled to turn draughtsman myself" (Preface) and executed all of the other drawings, bar one each by Maubert and Mesnel. The illustrations and indeed the birds themselves represent the pinnacle of Elliot's pictorial work. The Pittidae described are native to Borneo, Nepal, Ceylon, the Philippines, New Guinea, and Cambodia amongst other places. Their plumage is rendered in vibrant shades of blues, greens and reds, and the birds (many of whom are shown feeding their young) are placed against beautifully drawn landscapes. Elliot was also careful to ensure that the flowers and foliage shown in detail with the birds were appropriate for the species shown. When a second edition of this work was issued, most of the plates were redrawn by John Gould's artist, William Hart, and the text was completely rewritten.
BM (NH) I, p.522; Fine Bird Books (1990), p. 95; Nissen IVB 292; Sabin 22228 (noting that only 200 copies were printed); Wood p.332; Whittell pp.225-226; Zimmer p.208.
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Bookseller
Donald Heald Rare Books
(US)
- Format/Binding Folio
- Book Condition Used
- Quantity Available 1
- Publisher D.Appleton & Co
- Place of Publication New York
- Date Published 1863
We have 3 copies available starting at $20,000.00.
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A monograph of the pittidae, or, family of ant thrushes
by ELLIOT, Daniel Giraud
- Used
- Condition
- Used
- Edition
- FIRST EDITION
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
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Sherman Oaks, California, United States
- Item Price
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$20,000.00
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$20,000.00
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A Monograph of the Pittidae, or Family of Ant Thrushes (first edition)
by Elliot, Daniel Giraud
- Used
- Hardcover
- Signed
- first
- Condition
- A fine copy in a fine binding housed in a fine slipcase, a magnificent copy.
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
Iowa City, Iowa, United States
- Item Price
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$22,000.00
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Description:
New York: D. Appleton, 1863. First edition.. A fine copy in a fine binding housed in a fine slipcase, a magnificent copy.. Pp. 1p: dedication to Philip Lutley Sclater, 1p: list of subscribers, 2p: preface, 14p: introduction, and with 31 fine hand-colored lithographic plates, heightened with gum arabic (24 plates are signed by Elliot, 4 plates by Paul Louis Oudart, 1 plate is by E. Maubert, 1 plate is by Mesnel, 1 plate is unsigned). Each plate is accompanied by 2-3 pages of descriptive text. Bound in later one-half green morocco leather over the original marbled boards with the original matching marbled endpapers, spine with 5 raised bands outlined by gilt panel lines, 2 compartments with red morocco labels lettered in gilt, all page edges in gilt, folio (21 7/16 x 13 5/8 inches), housed in a custom-made velvet-lined clam-shell box with a one-quarter green leather spine over burnt red cloth boards made by Brockman Bindery in the UK. This is the first edition of the first of D.G. Elliot’s…
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$22,000.00
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A monograph of the pittidae, or, family of ant thrushes.
by ELLIOT, Daniel Giraud
- Used
- first
- Condition
- Used
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
London, London, United Kingdom
- Item Price
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$30,444.00
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Description:
London, Quaritch, 1893-1895. . Second edition. Large folio (59 x 40 cm.), 51 hand-coloured lithographed plates including 33 by and after William Hart, 1 by Keulemans after Hart, and 12 after Elliot, later dark green half morocco gilt, rebacked preserving spine, origiinal upper wrappers bound-in, plate XII, Pitta Moluccensis, trimmed along fore-margin, a very good copy. The preferred second edition of Elliot's work on the pittidae, with new text and twenty plates by Hart not present in the first edition, and fourteen plates redrawn by Hart. A fine record of these exotic birds from South East Asia, the Pacific, and Australia. An outstanding work by Elliot, the greatest bird artist in the United States of his time. CF. FBB (1990) p95; Nissen IVB, 292; Wood p332; Zimmer p208.
Item Price
$30,444.00