...WITH UNBELIEVABLY LIFELIKE COLORING, PRESENTED THE RAREST TREES, PLANTS, ANIMALS, BIRDS, FISHES … IT IS DIFFICULT TO BELIEVE THAT IT IS NOT THE REAL THING THAT STANDS IN ITS NATURAL COLOUR ON THE PAPER. PEHR KAHM, 1748 ON THE ART OF MARK CATESBY

{HISTORY}

Thanks to the contributions of two distinguished men in the ornithological field, this beautiful coffee table book and naturalist guide explores the birds of early America through art, identification and historical significance. 

Highlighting the work of famed British naturalist and artist, Mark Catesby (1683-1749), this book, Catesby's Birds of Colonial America, offers a comprehensive look at one of America's most important early artists. 

Embarking on trips to North America, the Bahamas and Jamaica during the 1710s and 1720s, Mark's field of interest focused on studying and collecting specimens of the Southern region of the United States. At the time, this area of the country was simply known as Carolina, but more specifically, Mark's travel itineraries included time spent in Williamsburg, Virginia, Charleston, South Carolina, and parts of Georgia, Florida and  nearby islands.

Recording all he saw in the way of bird and plant life, Mark returned to England, where between 1722-1749, he created 220 individual watercolor paintings of the American flora and fauna encountered during his travels. Those paintings featured birds, amphibians, reptiles, fish, insects, quadrupeds and plants. Published bit by bit in a series of installment books over the course of many years and titled Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahamas, this body of work became the first extensively illustrated account of natural specimens of the New World,

Groundbreaking in its scope and execution, while other naturalists had written about the American landscape before him, Mark offered the first visual glimpses of a wide variety of plant, animal and avian life in America.  Highly regarded for their detail, vibrant color palettes and inclusion of multiple subjects in one image, Mark's work would carry on to become inspiration for another favorite naturalist, John James Audubon, almost a century later. Held in collections around the world including the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Royal Trust, Mark Catesby's paintings were greatly admired during his lifetime, but by the 20th century had been forgotten about following the emergence of other great artists like Audubon himself.

When published in 1985, Catesby's Birds of Colonial America was the only comprehensive book on the subject of colonial birds.  Illuminating for modern scholars of botany, ornithology and American history, it combines general identification information about birds, trees and other vegetation found in colonial America, along with Catesby's field notes and updated remarks from editor, Alan Feduccia.  Included with the discussion of each bird, is Alan's Editor's Note offering more contemporary insights, fun facts, history and updated ornithological information as they have evolved from the 18th century to the 20th century.

A fascinating look at the life of Mark Catesby,  his peers in the field, the art of specimen collecting, and the enthusiasm England had for American natural history during the 1700s, Catesby's Birds of Colonial America is fun to read straight through from cover to cover like a novel, but also its great just to pick up and peruse at random too. Find your favorite amongst the flock and see what Catesby had to say about her in the 18th century and then what Alan Feduccia added in the 20th century. 

Enhanced with full- color plates of twenty different birds along with dozens of black and white versions of Catesby's work, this book is beautifully produced and endlessly entertaining. 

{SPECIAL FEATURES}

- Published in 1985 by the University of North Carolina Press

- 176 pages including index

- Ex-library copy 

{CONDITION}

In beautiful vintage condition, this book is clean and bright both inside and out. As an ex-library book, it retains the traditional hallmarks of a book that was in circulation including a pocket at the back, reference marks written in pencil on the front title page and an exterior mylar wrap that protects the dust jacket. The spine is tight, all pages are in tact, and the coverboards are very clean. 

{SIZE}

Measures 11.25" inches (length) x 8.75" inches (width) x .75" inches (thickness) and weighs 2 lbs.