The Handbook of British Birds. Vol. I-V [Interleaved set]

Description:

First edition. A very scarce special interleaved issue, the five volumes divided and bound by the publisher in ten volumes to accommodate the additional blank leaves. The Handbook of British Birds, published between 1938 and 1941, was the outstanding British ornithological reference work of its generation, providing detailed accounts of identification, plumage, distribution, migration, breeding biology and habits.

It seems likely that a small number of interleaved copies were produced as working reference sets for the authors, editors and perhaps a small number of serious ornithologists. The issue is exceptionally uncommon. Only one other comparable first-edition interleaved set (which belonged to the co-author F.C.R. Jourdain), likewise comprising 5 volumes bound in 10 in the publisher's cloth, has been documented as having appeared on the market in recent years.

Condition

5 vols bound in 10, 8vo, orig. publisher's buckram. Interleaved throughout with blank leaves for notes. Occassional foxing. Vg.