THE BIRDS OF SOUTH AFRICA

New edition: 890 pages, pages 856-867 missing as usual (probably never published), 12 hand coloured plates by Keulemans, plate XII as the frontispiece, plates IX and X bound out of sequence, publisher's half brown morocco titled gilt on the spine, marbled boards, and end papers, fore-edge and bottom edges uncut, light foxing on the title page, the contents and the plates are bright, a very good copy.

Mendelssohn (Sidney) South African Bibliography volume, 1, page 872: Quotes from the note on the wrappers, 'This edition contains an account of the birds inhabiting about double the area of country included by the author of the original work. In many of the families a complete treatment of the subject, de novo, was considered necessary by Mr. Sharpe. There are twelve coloured engravings.'

‘Layard was a British diplomat and naturalist, born in Florence to an English family, mainly interested in ornithology and to a lesser extent molluscs. He worked for a significant part of his life in Ceylon, South Africa, Fiji and New Caledonia, studying the zoology of each region and establishing natural history museums in both Sri Lanka and South Africa ( Layard was curator of the South African Museum from 1855 to 1872). Several species of animals are named after him.’ (from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Leopold_Layard). See also S2A3 Biographical Database of Southern African Science (https://www.s2a3.org.za/bio/Biograph_final.php?serial=1629)

‘Richard Bowdler Sharpe was the prominent ornithological curator and systematist of his generation. He worked as curator of the bird collection at the British Museum of Natural History, described many new species, founded the British Ornithologists’ Club in 1892, and wrote thirteen and a half of the 27 volumes of the Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum (1874–1898).’  (https://claude.ai/chat/44f42deb-5171-43ff-8446-45f9a3366a0c)

With the fine armorial book plate of William Edward Oates 1897 on the front paste-down endpaper. It bears the arms of the Oates family of Meanwoodside, Leeds, with full heraldic achievement: a quartered shield, ornate mantling, a crest of an armoured arm holding a sword, and a motto ribbon reading “Sua Dextra Cuique” — Latin for “To each his own right hand”, meaning each man must rely on his own strength and effort. Oates died in April 1896 and this posthumous bookplate was probably applied to books from his library after his death by his widow or estate. His was the brother of Francis (Frank) Oates author of Matabele Land and the Victoria Falls and the father of Captain Lawrence "Titus" Oates, the Antarctic explorer who famously walked out into the blizzard during the Terra Nova expedition of 1912 with the words "I am just going outside and may be some time."