A History of British Birds [and] A Natural History of the Nests and Eggs of British Birds.

£1,750 · Offered by Shapero Rare Books · No longer available

Mixed early issues of Francis Orpen Morris's A History of British Birds and A Natural History of the Nests and Eggs of British Birds. Exploring known British species and their way of life, Orpen created these simplified and streamlined series with education in mind. The hand-coloured engravings, which would have normally made books such as these very expensive in this period, were made affordable to promote the learning of bird identification. Orpen was dogged in his attempt to update these books as new species were added to the British lexicon, which resulted in new issues being released alongside reprints of past issues as seen here. He stated that another one of his goals was to make these books readable, and also financially accessible to every class that wished to study Natural History. 'He also supported the causes of bird protectionism and anti-vivisectionism—in a rare absence from his parish he travelled to London to give evidence before the select committee on wild birds protection on 26 June 1873. He was instrumental in establishing the Plumage League in 1885, and he was one of the earliest members of the Selbourne League, which was created in December of the same year. In 1888 the government acknowledged his work as a naturalist with the award of a civil-list pension of £100 per annum.' (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography). Mixed set, 9 vols, 8vo (24.8 x 15.2 cm); 579 hand-coloured plates, vol. 4 of British Birds lacking one plate vol. 2 of Nests and Eggs lack

• Binding: Hardcover

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