Lot 73
73
[REICHENBACH, Heinrich Gottlieb Ludwig. Die Vollständigste Naturgeschichte der Vögel des In- und Auslandes], a collection taken from the working manuscript, circa 1845-63, of over 250 mounted original watercolours of Hummingbirds, Parrots, Hornbills, and Toucans, most finished with gum arabic, many with some accompanying manuscript text by Reichenbacher, and other birds, drawn from the ornithological families, "Nymphae, Sylphae, Todus Trionites, Pteroglossus, Ramphastos," and "Buceros," mounted in 4 lge. 4° green half morocco albums, and loose in a matching portfolio, with, additionally, approximately 30 mounted pencil drawings, and 50 mounted hand-coloured prints excised from other ornithological works by Edouard Travies, William Jardine, and others. [Cf. Nissen IVB 765; Zimmer p. 505; Wood p. 531]

Details
[REICHENBACH, Heinrich Gottlieb Ludwig. Die Vollständigste Naturgeschichte der Vögel des In- und Auslandes], a collection taken from the working manuscript, circa 1845-63, of over 250 mounted original watercolours of Hummingbirds, Parrots, Hornbills, and Toucans, most finished with gum arabic, many with some accompanying manuscript text by Reichenbacher, and other birds, drawn from the ornithological families, "Nymphae, Sylphae, Todus Trionites, Pteroglossus, Ramphastos," and "Buceros," mounted in 4 lge. 4° green half morocco albums, and loose in a matching portfolio, with, additionally, approximately 30 mounted pencil drawings, and 50 mounted hand-coloured prints excised from other ornithological works by Edouard Travies, William Jardine, and others. [Cf. Nissen IVB 765; Zimmer p. 505; Wood p. 531]

Lot Essay

Casey A. Wood describes the works of "this important and versatile naturalist" as "mostly rare", and "commonly regarded with despair by the cataloguer". At the outset of the Vollständigste Naturgeschichte, Reichenbacher intended to cover the entire avian world (a task he left incomplete), but was frequently adding new sections, different title pages, and new classifications, leading J.T. Zimmer to state in desperation: "I can find no complete and accurate collation of the various components." The most accurate bibliography of his works is said to be A.B. Mayer's Index zu L. Reichenbach's Ornithologischen Werke. Wood describes this as: "a more or less successful effort ... to bring order out of the author's literary chaos."

More from Printed Books,including Natural History

View All
View All