Groningen, J. B. Wolters, 1886. Folio (36.8 x 27.3 cm). Two title pages, 274 [xvi, 156; (ii), 100] pp.; 48 [26; 22] large chromolithographed plates. Publisher's decorative full cloth with gilt and black embossing on the front board and spine; large pictorial panel of an Arcadian landscape with a peacock and swans on the front board, and gilt title on the spine. Bevelled edges. Iridescent silk endpapers. All edges gilt.

A fine copy of what is perhaps the most sumptuous of the late-19th-century Dutch bird books, with fine illustrations in full colour by J. Bungartz, G. Lübbert and C. 't Felt. The first part deals with wild birds, in particular cage birds, including parrots, etc., the second with poultry and other domesticated birds. The plates are very beautiful and therefore a complete copy, such as this one, has become very rare. Nissen errs in listing 27 plates for the first part; plate numbering jumps from 20 (the last of the exotic birds) to 22 (the start of the indigenous birds). Some shelf wear to the boards, small damp stains to the rear board; binding a bit weak, light spotting to the title and a few other leaves and plate versos, most pages and plates (rectos) very good, clean. Nissen IVB, 686; Sitwell, Fine bird books, p. 129.