The Birds of Prey of Southern Africa (Limited Edition)

Johannesburg: Winchester Press, 1980

 4to (29.2 x 22 x 3.4cm) 339pp. Original hardcover binding, with gilt lettering to the spine. With dustjacket. With frontispiece, 140 colour plates (collated and complete), text on each species, and short biography of C. G. Finch-Davies.

 Limited edition of 1700 copies, of which this is number 1190.

 Claude Gibney Finch-Davies (24 May 1875 – 4 August 1920) was a British soldier, ornithologist and painter who produced a series of paintings of birds of South Africa in the early part of the 20th century. As a professional soldier Davies was posted to various remote places in the Eastern Cape, and this fostered an interest in natural history and in particular, birdlife. Within a year or two, he was collecting bird specimens and starting sketches and paintings. In his field sketchbooks he provided copious notes about each species he illustrated - at first his own field observations, but later augmented by information culled from books and scientific journals. His style of painting rapidly evolved to show great detail of the plumage while retaining a lifelike appearance. By 1905 he had produced some 200 paintings of consistently high quality. (wikipedia.com)

 Condition: Very good. Light rubbing to the dust jacket, and a few small closed tears (less than1cm) to the top edges of the dust jacket. Light creasing to pp. 293-294. All else fine. A clean and internally bright copy, solidly bound.