The Paintings of Norman Lighton for Roberts Birds of South Africa (fine copy of standard edition)

Three editions of this book were originally published in 1976:

1. First edition. 300 numbered copies. Bound in full brown leather. Newly painted frontispiece by Norman Lighton.
2. Subscribers' edition. 350 numbered copies. Bound in full blue simulated leather. Frontispiece as above.
3. Standard edition. Unnumbered. Bound in full beige buckram with gilt-embossed lettering to the upper panel and the spine. No frontispiece.

Common to the three editions is the absence of five of the 56 original plates (1, 31, 32, 40 and 48), which have been lost.

This is a fine, near-mint copy of the standard edition, unmarked, complete and undamaged in any way. 

The complete 1976 production, excellent in all respects, was handled by various specialist individuals and companies in Cape Town under the supervision of the publishers and with the collaboration of the artist and one of the editors of the then current edition of "Roberts", who corrected the colouring of at least one of the paintings. The text paper used was 155 gm2 Mellotex Matt Hight White twin-wire offset from Tullis Russell of Scotland. 

The remarkable difference between the new reproductions and the plates in the printed "Roberts" resulted from their very much larger size and their reproduction by litho instead of the less sympathetic letterpress previously used.

Plain endpapers, [xi], including black and red title-page, + 51 colour plates with their details and descriptions opposite.