A Monograph of the Phasianidae, or Family of the Pheasants. by ELLIOT, Daniel Giraud (1835-1915)

New York: Published by the Author, [1870]-1872. 2 volumes. Folio (23 2/8 x 18 4/8 inches). Subscribers list. 79 fine hand-colored lithographic plates, including one folding, after Joseph Wolf by J. Smit and J. G. Keulemans, printed by M. and N. Hanhart and P. W. M. Trap, colored by J. D. White, and 2 uncolored plates of generic characters by and after Smit. Modern half blue morocco gilt extra, six original pictorial front wrappers bound in at the end of volume one. First edition, issued in 6 parts between June 1870 and October 1872. Containing spectacular images of Peacocks and Pheasants, it was not just the "extreme attractiveness of the birds composing the family" (Elliot "Preface"), but "of all the families composing the Ornithological System, no one is so important to the human race. containing within it the species that afford food for thousands of mankind, and also those which are the original source of all the domestic poultry met with throughout the civilized world" (Elliot "Introduction"). Ayer/Zimmer, p.206; Copenhagen/Anker 130; Fine Bird Books, p.74; McGill/Wood, p.331; Nissen IVB 295. Catalogued by Kate Hunter.