The Birds of Australia [with Supplements]

With hand-coloured plates. London : Witherby & Co. [later H. F. & G. Witherby], 1910-1936. Seventy-five Parts and five Supplements (published between 1910 and 1925) bound in thirteen uniform volumes, thick quartos (360 mm tall), half crushed morocco over buckram by Walter Haydon of Norwich (his original signed binder’s receipt pasted on to the front pastedown, dated 7 June 1926, made out to the original owner Fred. L. Benney, Queensland, Australia, for the amount of 17.8.0); spines in compartments with raised bands, ruled in gilt, lettered in gilt with volume numbers and dates of publication; edges a little rubbed, cloth a little flecked; top edges gilt, others uncut; marbled endpapers, original green paper wrappers bound in to the end of each volume (some with Benney’s signature), cancellation notes and replacement pages, instruction slips to the binder, armorial bookplates for Benney to endpapers, original purchase receipts signed by Witherby made out to Benney tipped in on preliminary blanks; some plates and pages with related photographs, manuscript notes, and clippings neatly tipped in recto or verso which relate to the species illustrated; with a total of 678 fine hand-coloured plates plus monochrome plates. Limited to 225 numbered sets, this is copy number 7, with the original purchase receipts for the volumes made out to Benney by Witherby, dated 1913 and 1927, bound into the preliminaries.

[Together with]: The Birds of Norfolk & Lord Howe Islands and the Australasian South Polar Quadrant with additions to “The Birds of Australia”. London : H. F. & G. Witherby, 1928. Quarto, later gilt-lettered red calf, pp. xii, [iv], 139, with 45 hand-coloured and monochrome plates, and A Supplement to The Birds of Norfolk & Lord Howe Islands to which is added those Birds of New Zealand not figured by Buller. London : H. F. & G. Witherby, 1936. Quarto, later gilt-lettered cloth, pp. xiv, [ii], 177, with 24 (of 29) hand-coloured and 6 (of 28) monochrome plates. As is usually the case, the 1936 Supplement does not contain the full complement of plates; due to dwindling circulation only a few copies are recorded as containing the final plates.

The Birds of Australia by Gregory Mathews is the last great Australian colour plate book and – with 600 hand-coloured lithographs – the most substantial work on Australian ornithology after the elephant folio volumes of John Gould published with the same title. This magnificent set contains the original documentation of purchase and binding made out to its Australian owner Fred L. Benney from the publisher Witherby and binder Walter Haydon, and is accompanied by the full five Supplements and the later works on Australian outlying regions.

Collation:

Volume 1 : Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, pp. xiv, 301, with hand-coloured plates numbered 1 – 67 (the Crested Pigeon facing p. 178 enhanced with original vibrant feathers from a specimen mounted with tissue guard);

Volume II : Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, pp. xiv, 527, with hand-coloured plates numbered 68-124;

Volume III : Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, pp. xvvii, 512, with hand-coloured plates numbered 125-199;

Volume IV : Parts 1, 2, 3, pp. xii, 334, with hand-coloured plates numbered 200-233;

Volume V : Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, pp. xi; 440, with hand-coloured plates numbered 234-274;

Volume VI : Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, pp. xix, 516, with hand-coloured plates numbered 275-324;

Volume VII : Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, pp. xii, 499, with hand-coloured plates numbered 325-370;

Volume VIII : Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, pp. xiv, 316, with hand-coloured plates numbered 371-399;

Volume IX : Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, pp. xiv, 518, with hand-coloured plates numbered 400-453;

Volume X : Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, pp. xi, 451, with hand-coloured plates numbered 454-490;

Volume XI : Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, pp. xiii, 593, with hand-coloured plates numbered 491-541;

Volume XII : Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, pp. xii, 454, with hand-coloured plates numbered 542-600;

[Volume XIII : Supplements].

• Supplement No. 1 (1920). Check list of the Birds of Australia. Part 1. Orders Casuariiformes to Menuriformes. Pp. iv, 116
• Supplement No. 2 (1923). Check list of the Birds of Australia. Part 2. Order Passeriformes (part). Pp. xvi, 117-156
• Supplement No. 3 (1924). Check list of the Birds of Australia. Part 3. Order Passeriformes (concluding part). Pp. viii, 157-244
• Supplement No. 4 & 5 (1925). Bibliography of the Birds of Australia. Pp. viii; 157-244. Pp. viii, 149, black-and-white plate.

The Birds of Norfolk & Lord Howe Islands and the Australasian South Polar Quadrant with additions to “The Birds of Australia” (1928). Bound in later gilt-lettered red calf, pp. xii, [iv], 139, with 38 hand-coloured and 7 monochrome plates.

A Supplement to The Birds of Norfolk & Lord Howe Islands to which is added those Birds of New Zealand not figured by Buller (1936). Bound in later gilt-lettered cloth, pp. xiv, [ii], 177, with 24 (of 29) hand-coloured and 6 (of 28) monochrome plates.