Old Bird Books

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone else has a love of 'old' bird books? I have recently found and purchased a couple of Penguin editions of Bird Recognition by James Fisher - dating from the late 1940s/1950s. The illustrations but most especially the detailed charts are fascinating. I also have a few from the late nineteenth / early twentieth century such as British Birds Nests. What does anyone else love and recommend?

Indigo-silk -

My old books are mainly N American, but I love anything by Roger Tory Peterson, Edwin Way Teale, and Neltje Blanchan. You might enjoy Wild America co-authored by RTP and James Fisher in 1956, recounting their birding journey across the U.S. The contrasts between the two great naturalists are charming and very humorous in places. The journey was recently retraced by Scott Weidensaul in Return to Wild America, another great read. I hope to take the time to read the two in parallel sometime soon.

Edwin Way Teale is more of a general nature writer, most noted in my mind for his American Seasons Quartet -- North with the Spring, Journey into Summer, Autumn Across America, and Wandering through Winter -- published in the 1950s/60s. These were among the first nature writing I discovered and really set me on the path to preferring nonfiction over fiction. Stranegly, on re-reading, these seem to me more contemporary than some of the nature books I read today. Teale is a master of first-person narrative, the informed travel story, and the succinct recap of the insights he gained from meeting with experts on various birds, wildflowers, geologic formations, etc. along the way. He also wrote Springtime in Britain which I read and enjoyed years ago and might be of extra interest to you.

Neltje Blanchan wrote around 1900, authoring titles on birds (Bird Neighbors), gardens and wildflowers. Her writing is more traditionally Victorian but I find her descriptions quaint and poetic. Hers are not works I would want to read cover-to-cover, but they are fun to dip into for details on a specific species now and again.

One of my absolute treasures is Robert Ridgway's Ornithology of Illinois from 1889, which also has the wonderful Victorian phrasing throughout ... but it is a pretty scientific work and really only of interest to an Illinois birder.

I've been picking up some older bird books on ebay. One I got recently was Handbook of birds of eastern North America by Frank M Chapmanfrom from 1916. It was interesting because it was from back when they "collected" the birds instead of just looking at them. It has instructions on dressing the skins for your collection. Definitely a different point of view from the current thinking.

LCB,

Is that the one where Chapman describes an American Robin but doesn't get to the orange-red breast for like, three paragraphs? I think Peterson noted that.

I have a copy of The birds of Washington; a complete, scientific and popular account of the 372 species of birds found in the state by William Leon Dawson (1909), which has some very entertaining descriptions of some of the birds.

Also, I own a copy of The woodpeckers by Fannie Hardy Eckstrom (1901), which is a beautiful little book.

Hmmm, the touchstone is not showing the correct book about woodpeckers, although I have the Hans Winkler book in my library as well.

Re Message 2 and Edwin Way Teale: Teale reads the same to me, very contemporary, which may have something to do with the ten-plus years that he spent as a staff writer for POPULAR SCIENCE in NYC while he was in his late 20s and early 30s. He wrote whatever they assigned, which touched on just about everything, and the articles I've seen all have his trademark combination of unusual facts and cogent analysis. The man had the storytelling gift, as well as terrific intellectual curiosity and one of those mindsets that seems to transcend any particular era.

Re his writing about birds, if you like hawks, get a copy of The Lost Woods and check out Chapter 21, "Hawkways." It is thrilling and fascinating and, ultimately, heartbreaking.

He also writes very nicely about the birds around his Connecticut homestead in A Naturalist Buys An Old Farm.

Thanks for the nudge BasilBlue ... I actually own The Lost Woods, still haven't read it, but plan to later this summer when I visit the dunes.

It would be really fascinating to see some of the early Popular Science articles. I found this article (from walden.org) on Teale's life-change from Popular Science to freelance nature writing when I googled EWT and Popular Science based on your comments. As a mid-forties business writer by trade I found it very interesting.

As a bookbuyer and a birder, I also am collecting old bird books. My most recent accqusition is a Pocket Books bird guide from the 50's. It is 'A Pocket Guide to the Birds' by Allan Cruickshank. This is a "field" guide which I had never seen mentioned before. Great price $2.00.
My prize find so far is a copy of E. Coues 1872 'Key to North Amercian Birds' first ed.
It is only the block, as both boards are missing though the spine is intact and strong. It was too good to pass up, just $15.

I have a 1955 copy of Birds of the Sudan: Their identification and distribution by Francis Oswin Cave. As far as I know it's the only bird book devoted only to Sudan, where I have lived for much of the last 26 years, although Sudan is covered in some regional and continental books. It's not as user friendly as modern bird books, and is certainly not something I would want to take into the swamps with me, but it has superb illustrations and it's just a nice book to own.

Another old out-of-print book I have is not specifically about birds, but the title is The Cry of the Fish Eagle by Peter Molloy. It's one of those delightful books by old colonial administrators. This 1957 book records the experiences of the author and his wife Yvonne in Sudan, where he was a game warden, so birds do feature in it.