BEAUTIFULLY ILLUSTRATED WITH EIGHT HAND-COLORED BIRD PLATES

CORY, Charles Barney. Birds of the Bahama Islands. Boston: The Author (Alfred Mudge and Sons), 1880. Large quarto, original brown cloth gilt, beveled edges. $2000.

First edition of this “outstanding ornithological work” (Anker) describing 149 native species of the West Indies, with eight beautifully hand-colored lithographic plates.

"Among the more outstanding ornithological works dealing with the West Indies we may mention Charles B. Cory's Birds of the Bahama Islands, a popular account of the 149 species recorded from the islands" (Anker, 84). It contains not only descriptions and notes on each native species, but a hypothetical list of 36 additional birds "that might occasionally occur there." "Cory, himself, made five trips to nearly all of the islands of the West Indies, and besides, sent out various collectors to the different islands, some of whom were in the field for from six to eighteen months each, collecting altogether many thousands of specimens. Mr. Cory's book forms an invaluable hand-book of West Indian ornithology, and will prove indispensable to all future workers in this field" (J.A. Allen). He was appointed honorary curator of the Field Museum in Chicago in 1893. Pages 53-54 supplied in facsimile. Zimmer, 137. Nissen 203.

Plates with very faint spotting to margins, otherwise clean and vividly colored, text block expertly recased in lightly worn original cloth binding. A nice copy of the scarce first edition.