THE BIRDS OF SOUTH AFRICA

Limited Edition, Hardcover Folio, bound in the original green skivertex and has 204 pages. Housed in the original green coloured slip case to match the binding, with gilt titling to the spine, and gilt T Baines signature device on the upper board.

This copy still has the original transparent cover wrapped around the binding. The book itself is clean; the slip case has some marks on the front/back boards, and a bit of rubbing along the edges.

This book is the complete collection of ninety bird studies, beautifully painted by Baines, together with descriptions from the text of C.J. Andersson's "Notes on the Birds of Damara Land and the adjacent Countries of South-West Africa”. It took over 100 years to gather together these paintings. Some are painted in oils but mostly in watercolors, based on sketches and drawings made on Baines' travels in South Africa in the 1860s.

The book has a frontispiece self-portrait of Thomas Baines and front/back endpapers have bird drawings by Baines. Small, faint foxing spots can be seen on the half-title page.

The Birds of South Africa, by Thomas Baines, is published in a limited edition of 526 volumes, this is volume 310. Overall, this is an attractive copy, the book and the binding are in very good condition.

In 1929 Dr J. G. Gubbins, founder of the Africana Museum in Johannesburg, purchased the paintings for the museum. This book was produced with the permission of the Africana Museum. The biographical introduction by R.F.Kennedy is itself a valuable addition to South African history.