An album of original watercolours of birds, with title 'Gefiedertes Volk' [Feathered Folk]

Book Description

[Germany: circa 1900]. Oblong folio. (9 1/2 x 14 3/4 inches). 1p. original calligraphic title in blue red and gold inks and wash within original watercolour decorative surround of a wood and twined-ivy frame with three birds and a background of the jungle at dawn, 1p. original calligraphic index in German in blue, green and gold inks and wash, 85pp. of thin blue card, mounted recto and verso with 178 original ornithological watercolours on watercolour paper (7 1/2 x 8 3/4 inches and smaller) by a single hand (two signed 'G.Rauber'), most with integral title in German in black ink identifying the subject of the watercolour. Original dark blue half cloth, shaped paper label mounted on upper cover with calligraphic title in blue and red 'Aquarelle'. A charming and wide-ranging collection of original ornithological watercolours. All the birds are shown against a carefully painted background, most images are of single birds, but a significant number of drawings include two or more species or varieties. As the index makes clear the birds are carefully collected together under eight different headings: the 'Sänger' or songbirds section includes the Baltimore oriole, golden oriole, song-thrush, nightingale, black cap, the hill mynah and about 12 other species; the 'Finkenvögel' or finches includes the cardinal, bullfinch, chaffinch and about 25 other species, 'Prachtfinken' or showy finches is slightly misleading as a title as this section includes a variety of brightly-plummaged birds that are often found in captivity, but are not finches: canaries for example, and the birds in this section are intermingled with the 'Webervögel' or weaverbirds, with a total of about 59 watercolours of about 94 individual birds. The section on 'Papageren und Sittiche' or parrots and parrakeets includes 25 drawings of cockatoos, the African gray, macaws, budgerigars, parrakeets and love-birds. The remaining three sections: 'Hühnervögel' or chickens, 'Schwimmervögel' or waterbirds and a final category for various other sorts of birds: 'Diverses gef Volk' are all intermingled, but include a total of 55 drawings of both exotics and better known species like the blue-jay, swan or jackdaw.

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