Parrots in Captivity.

London: George Bell and Sons, York Street, Covent Garden, 1884. Hardcover. 3 vols., 8vo, gilt-stamped pictorial green cloth. xiv, 114; x, 144; viii, 144 pp., 81 color-printed wood-engraved plates heightened with gum arabic, including frontispieces.

First edition of the first book devoted entirely to parrots in captivity, and one of the finest illustrated works on the order. Intended as a guide for keeping parrots as pets, the work features handsome hand-colored plates of macaws, cockatoos, lories, parrots, parakeets, and lovebirds. The plates were created by Benjamin Fawcett (1808–1893) after drawings by Alexander F. Lydon—Fawcett using a color-printing technique known as chromoxylography. The work contains much of Australian interest.

“An account of the habits of 81 varieties of parrots (including cockatoos, macaws, parrakeets, etc.) with special reference to their behaviour in cage or aviary” (Zimmer p. 274).

REFERENCES: Fine Bird Books, p. 103; Nissen IVB 393; Zimmer p. 274.

CONDITION: Very good, some wear to extremities; contents overall bright and clean, occasional foxing, mostly in Vol. III, the first few leaves of which are heavily foxed, just a few plates with a touch of foxing with little to no effect on images.