Recherches Ornithologiques dans la Province de Quangtri (Centre Annam) et quelques autres Régions de l'Indochine Française

Description:

Text French. Archives d'histoire naturelle, Vol. I. Scarce. Colour plates numbered I-XXVII, Xibis, with nine in colour, 2 by H. Gronvold, 7 by J. Delacour. Jean Delacour (1890-1985) was a French-American aviculturist known for discovering and rearing some of the world’s rarest birds. Born into a wealthy French family, he lost his first collection of birds, which numbered some 1,300, to German artillery fire in World War I. After the war, he led many scientific expeditions to Venezuela, the Guianas, Madagascar, and Vietnam. His published works on the birds of French Indochina are now considered classics in the field. During this period, he collected animals for his second private zoo, which he housed in an estate he bought at Cleres, near Rouen. Unfortunately, this collection was destroyed at the outset of World War II. In 1940, Delacour escaped to the United States and became one of the operators of the Bronx Zoo. He became closely involved with research through the New York Zoological Society and the Museum of Natural History. From 1952 to 1960 he was director of the Los Angeles County Museum.

Condition

8vo, orig. qtr cloth, paper covered boards, minor bumps to corners; paper browned to outer margins. Vg. Inscribed by the the first author, Jean Delacour (1890-1985) to Thomas Wells (1868-1939), 'one of the best-known figures in the ornithological world' of his era. Wells worked for almost half of century in the Bird Room at the British Museum, and was a member the British Ornithologists’ Union.