Item #16291 A monograph of the tetraoninae, or family of the grouse. Daniel Giraud ELLIOT.
A monograph of the tetraoninae, or family of the grouse.
A monograph of the tetraoninae, or family of the grouse.

A monograph of the tetraoninae, or family of the grouse.

New York: Published by the Author, 1865. Folio (581 x 461 mm). [19] pp., including list of subscribers (65 names for 71 copies). FIRST EDITION. With 27 fine hand-colored lithographic mounted on guards, all by C.F. Tholey after Elliot and J. Wolf with the exception of 2 hand-colored plates of eggs after W.S. Morgan, all printed by Bowen & Co. of Philadelphia. Contemporary half green morocco, edges and corners worn; interior excellent. Item #16291

First edition of one of the most important ornithological works printed in America. “Next only to Audubon’s, the Elliot works are the most valuable American bird plates” (Bennett). This second of Elliot’s three works printed in the United States focuses on the then-known species of grouse, who mostly inhabit temperate and subarctic regions of the Northern hemisphere. The text includes synonyms, data on the geographical distribution and the habits of the birds, and descriptions of their different plumage. Elliot’s later works were printed in Europe, though some retained a New York imprint.

Elliot (1835-1915) was a founder of both the American Museum of Natural History in New York and the American Ornithologist Union. He was a curator of z oology at the Field Museum in Chicago.

Anker/Copenhagen, 128; Ayer/Zimmer, p. 205; Bennett, p. 19; Fine Bird Books, p. 74; Nissen, IVB, 293; Wood, p. 331.

Price: $24,000.00

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