Rails of the World: A Monograph of the Family Rallidae, With Forty-One Paintings by J. Fenwick Lansdowne by Ripley, S. Dillon - 1977

Chicago: David R. Godine, 1977. Special Limited Edition. Hardcover. As New. Folio - over 12 - 15" tall. J. Fenwick Lansdowne. A superior copy inside and out, being a sterling condition hardcover copy bound in three-quarter red leather, brown-flecked tan linen cloth over boards, with unbruised tips, tight binding, and clean internals, showing only very slight shelf- and edge-wear; not ex-library, with neither underlining nor highlighting anywhere. Gilt lettering between tooled compartments between six raised bands. Housed in an elegant but simple, heavy, cloth-bound slip-case. Measures 14 1/5” x 10 1/2” x 2 1/2” in folio format. (i) + (xx) + 1-406 pp., complete. A beautiful book with many color plates depicting the rail bird family Rallidae, including Takahe (Porphyrio mantelli). Pages and covers are pristine and intact. Illustrated endpapers front and rear, being the depiction of rail bird footprints. Binding is tight. This is a copy of the First Numbered Limited Signed Edition, stuffed with all manner of artistic and scholarly apparatus, over 40 color plates, 17 maps of distribution. This Edition limited to 400 copies of which this #278, signed in pencil by both authors and numbered at colophon. Stupendously colorful full-page color plates and that are augmented with learned text and brilliantly conceived research, plus an additional chapter on the fossil species. Volume contains scholarly apparatus in the form of, e.g., notes, index, and bibliography. Gift-quality condition inside and out. Member, I.O.B.A., C.B.A., and adherent to the highest ethical standards. Additional postage may be required for oversize or especially heavy volumes, and for sets.