Zurich, Orell Füssli, [1819]-1830. Folio/large 4to mix (32.5 x 25.5 cm). Half-title, title page, dedication leaf; 154 pp. [iv, 28, 119 [verso blank], 4]; 74 engraved plates [1-33, 1-40, 36a], each in fine, original hand-colouring. 19th-century half cloth over marbled boards. Spine with later morocco label with gilt lines and title.

A very rare ornithological work by the Swiss naturalist Heinrich Rudolf Schinz (1777-1862). A very rare, uncut copy, with the widest possible margins. The text leaves have wider margins than the plates. The work consists of two parts, viz., the first, being dedicated to birds nests, showing the nests as well as the birds that made them; and the second, which deals with bird eggs. The birds are chiefly, if not all, from western and central Europe. Many, however, are known to hibernate in Africa. First Plate 33 (birds and nests) erroneously numbered 32, i.e., an unrecorded first state. It was later corrected to 33 in the plate. Egg text p. 54 erroneously numbered 55, whereas p. 55 is erroneously numbered 54. Egg plate 3 bound before 2. Short tear in the inner margin of second text leaf 1-2, marginal paper loss on egg pp. 61-62; some offsetting to egg plates 34-36. Plate 36a present. A few, skilful repairs, otherwise fine. Anker, 441; Nissen IVB 824; Zimmer p. 551.