The natural history of the cranes

London: Horace Cox, 1881. FIRST EDITION. With tinted lithographed frontispiece, 6 plates (1 hand-colored, 1 wood-engraved and double-page). Red cloth, title in gilt on spine; interior excellent. First edition, originally written by Blyth and enlarged by W.B.Tegetmeier. A large number of species are well-documented and described. Of particular interest are the stories by many other writers that are recounted in this work, which include observations of these birds by the local population.

Blyth (1810-1873) was an English zoologist who spent much of his life in India working as a curator of zoology for the museum of the Asiatic Society of India in Calcutta. His main interest was ornithology, and a number of avian species bears his name. He was also a correspondent of Darwin on matters relating to natural selection. Tegetmeier (1816-1912) wrote and edited numerous works on ornithology; he is best known for his works on pigeons and poultry.