The Avifauna of Laysan and the neighbouring islands: with a complete history to date of the birds of the Hawaiian possessions

London: R.H. Porter, 1900. FIRST EDITION. With 83 plates, including 55 hand-colored lithograph plates by and after J.G. Keulemans and F.W. Frowhawk, 20 collotype plates from photographs (including one duplicate plate “Group of Four White Albatrosses”), and 8 monochrome plates, all tissue guards present. Red half-morocco and cloth boards, minor staining to a small portion of the front cover; other than some minor foxing to the paste-down and endleaves, an outstanding copy with the original pink printed wrappers bound in. First edition of this landmark study of the birds of the Hawaiian Islands, limited to 250 copies. Issued in three parts, Rothschild provides a bibliography and brief survey of the origin and distribution of the Hawaiian avifauna. A summary of the diary of Henry Palmer, an ornithologist employed by Rothschild, who collected specimens on the islands between 1890 and 1893 forms the basis of this work. Palmer gathered a total of 1832 birds. The fine hand-colored plates were drawn and lithographed by Keulemans. Included are fifteen new species and a number which are now extinct (and which are indicated by pencil notations in the text).

Anker, 429; Wood, p. 543; Zimmer, p. 532; Nissen, IVB, 794.