Antiquarian Auctions

Auction #114 begins on 11 Apr 2024

Bolster, Major R C

Land & Sea Birds of the South West Cape (1931)

Published: Speciality Press, Cape Town , 1931

Edition: First

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"A quick reference guide. Containing descriptions of all the birds in the area, with notes on their habits and every device for rapid identification. With 57 coloured plates and chart"

Bolster's predates by nine years Roberts's famous first modern complete South African bird book but, writing from the Transvaal Museum in Pretoria, Austin Roberts provides an enthusiastic foreword to Bolster's volume, including (in the context of today's proliferation of bird books the prophetic words) "ornithology offers a more attractive field for the study of Nature than any other branch of biology".

Bolster uses Stark and Sclater's lists for his own English common bird names and bird numbers.

His presentation is unique - certainly for South African bird books. The sections are thumb-indexed - Introductory Chapters, Colour Plates, Veld and Mountain, Garden, Forest and Bush, Rivers and Vleis, Sea and Coast, and Bird Protection and Appendices.

The binding - brown cloth-boards with black design and lettering to the upper panel and the spine - has been strenthened with a new brown Skivertex spine, with the original spine laid down, and new endpapers.

The contents - xi + 239 pp of text, appendices and index, including 23 numbered pp of bird illustrations in colour on art paper + 7 section dividere leaves + frontispiece + 8-panel fold-out at the back - are unmarked and undiscoloured.

The result is a now near-fine restored copy that will be a welcome addition to a comprehensive South African ornithology collection.

  • Binding Condition: Very Good
  • Overall Condition: Very Good
  • Size: 225 x 155
  • Sold By: Fontein Books
  • Contact Person: Richard Proctor-Sims
  • Country: South Africa
  • Email: [email protected]
  • Telephone: 051 773 0050/048 079 546 4032
  • Preferred Payment Methods: Eft (South Africa), SWIFT (rest of world), or $ checks for US or Australian buyers
  • Trade Associations: AA Approved


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