BIRDS

[William Yarrell, zoologist.] Autograph Signature (‘Wm. Yarrell.’) as ‘Treasurer’ (of the Entomological or Linnean Society).

Author: 
William Yarrell (1784-1856), eminent English zoologist, author of standard reference works on British fishes (1836) and birds (1843), treasurer of the Entomological Society and the Linnean Society
Publication details: 
No place or date.
£35.00

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. On 11 x 7.5 cm piece of paper, cut from a printed document. The signature is large, bold and undamaged, on heavily-worn paper with several instances of damage, laid down on a piece of card. The printed text reads: ‘[...] / I [have] the honour to be, / Sir, / Your most obedient / and very humble Servant, / [Autograph Signature ‘Wm. Yarrell’] / Treasurer.’

[Sir Peter Scott, ornithologist, conservationist and artist.] Typed Letter Signed, advising ‘Squirrel’ on ‘the right type of field glasses’ and new developments in the design of binoculars.

Author: 
Sir Peter Scott [Sir Peter Markham Scott] (1909-1989), ornithologist, artist, conservationist, founder of the Wildfowl Trust, son of Antarctic explorer Sir Robert Falcon Scott
Scott
Publication details: 
3 November 1962; on letterhead (with illustration by him of birds in flight) of the Wildfowl Trust, Slimbridge, Gloucestershire.
£50.00
Scott

See his entry in the Oxford DNB. 1p, 4to. In fair condition, lightly aged, with slight spotting to margin. Folded three times. Good signature: ‘Peter Scott.’ Addressing himself to ‘Dear Squirrel’, he writes: ‘Yes, of course I will try to advise you on the right type of field glasses. I have used Ross 12 by 50 Stepsun for many years and have found it a very good glass for ornithological and also general use. I would strongly recommend it.

[ Blanche Atkinson; Ruskin; RSPB ] Leaflet entitled "A Woman's Question", about the "slaughter of birds for ornament"

Author: 
Blanche Atkinson [ Blanche Isabella Atkinson (1847-1911) novelist and author of children’s books, correspondent/friend of John Ruskin ]
Publication details: 
Ty'n-y-Ffynon, Barmouth. March 1896
£150.00

Two pages, 8vo, fold marks, some wear on a fold mark, grubby, bottom edge chipped, all text legible. Bottom of verso, copies obtainable from the author of from "The Hon. Sec. of the Society for the Protection of Birds, Mrs. F.E. Lemon [...]" No copy on COPAC etc.

[ Howard Saunders, ornithologist. ] Autograph Letter Signed to E. L. Arnold, asking for more particulars about the piratical-looking birds' referred to in his 'Indian Hills', and explaining that gulls and terns are his 'speciality'.

Author: 
Howard Saunders (1835-1907), ornithologist [ E. L. Arnold [ Edwin Lester Linden Arnold ] (1857-1935), author ]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of 7 Radnor Place, Gloucester Square, W. [ London ] 18 December 1881.
£56.00

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. Forty-eight lines of text. Arnold's 'On the Indian Hills, or Coffee-Planting in Southern India' had been published in London earlier in the year, and Saunders writes that '[a]s an ornithologist' he has been 'much interested by the numerous allusions to the birds observed [...] but most of all by your remarks on the outward voyage (pp.101-3) on the gulls &c of the Red Sea'.

[ John Gould, bird-artist ] Printed Receipt Signed boldly over stamp, "John Gould".

Author: 
John Gould (1804–1881), English ornithologist and bird artist
Publication details: 
[Printed address] To John Gould. 26 Charlotte Street, Bedford Square, W.C. 17 August 1870
£300.00

Receipt, part printed, part MS., 21 x 13cm, fold marks, good condition. A "Mr Cornish" has purchased Parts 17 & 18 of the Birds of Great Britain. Note; "The Birds of Great Britain" (1862–73).

Three Autograph Letters Signed (all 'Clifton') from Edward Henry Stuart Bligh, Lord Clifton (later 7th Earl of Darnley) to Rev. C. W. Shepherd of Trotterscliffe, all concerning Kent natural history. With 15 page list of 'Funghi, East Kent'.

Author: 
Edward Henry Stuart Bligh (1851-1900), of Cobham Hall, Gravesend, Kent, successively Lord Clifton and (from 1896) the 7th Earl of Darnley [Rev. Charles William Shepherd (1838-1920) of Trotterscliffe]
Edward Henry Stuart Bligh (fungi)
Publication details: 
4 October 1889 and 22 August and 14 September 1891. All from Dumpton Park, Ramsgate, Kent.
£650.00
Edward Henry Stuart Bligh (fungi)

All 4to, with the letters totalling 22 pp, and the list of 'Funghi, East Kent' of 15 pp. All items clear and complete. Three leaves with light staining (one with short closed tear), otherwise all in good condition, on aged paper. All three in envelopes (lacking stamps), addressed by Clifton and with his seal in red wax. ONE. 4 October 1889. 4to, 12 pp. Begins: 'It seems a long time since we had a ramble on the Cuxton and Ralling hills from Cobham, and when I killed a viper; and I have been much amused at the apparent incredulity of a brother B.O.U. at the Dumpton Park rarities!

Manuscript Minute Book of the Oxford Ornithological Society, with signatures, covering the period between 1943 and 1948, and with a number of attractive handbills and other items of ephemera (printed at the Oxford University Press) tipped in.

Author: 
[Oxford Ornithological Society; Fraser Darling; Ludwig Koch; Eric Ennion; Seton Gordon; Tinbergen; Landsborough Thomson]
Publication details: 
[Oxford.] Michaelmas Term, 1943 - Michaelmas Term 1948.
£650.00

4to, 180 pp. In original 'Emberlin & Son' ledger, with red leather half-binding, black cloth, marbled endpapers. Text clear and complete. In fair condition, on aged paper, in worn binding. Minutes signed by G. H. Spray, B. W. Tucker, W. B. Alexander, J. B. E. Say, William G. Dyson, Alan Newton. Numerous programmes (with lists of officers) tipped-in, along with one set of rules and a poster with large engraving of bird (a smaller version of which features on the programmes), printed by the Holywell Press.

Alnwick Scientific and Mechanical Institution. Fine Art Exhibition in Corn Exchange, Alnwick, November 1882, Collection of Coins, Eggs of Farne Islands, Native and Foreign Curiosities, &c., &c., collected and exhibited by Mr. J. J. Horsley, Alnwick.

Author: 
J. J. Horsley of Alnwick, collector of coins and eggs of the Farne Islands [Alnwick, Northumberland; birds' eggs; ornithology; numismatics]
Publication details: 
1882. Alnwick: Printed by C. E. Moore.
£75.00

12mo, 11 pp. Stitched and unbound. First and last leaves loose, otherwise in fair condition, on lightly-aged paper with grubby title. The section of 'Eggs of the Farne Islands' consists of fifteen entries on pp.8-9, from '1. Eider or St. Cuthbert's Duck (Somateria mollissima)' to '15.

Autograph Note Signed ('J H Gurney') to Messrs Hertslet & Scott, No 31 Norfolk Street, Strand, London.

Author: 
John Henry Gurney (1819-1819), banker and ornithologist
Publication details: 
31 July 1840; Norwich.
£28.00

4to, 1 p. Bifolium. Good, on lightly-aged and worn paper. With 1 cm vertical closed tear at foot of each leaf. Addressed, with postmarks, on the reverse of the second leaf, which is docketed '31. July 1840. | Gurney & Co. that Mrs E. Lofty resides at Hethersett near Norwich -'. Reads 'Respected friends | We believe that the lady for whose address you enquire in yr favor of the 29th Inst resides at Hethersett near this city'. Gurney joined the family business at the age of seventeen.

Report of the departmental committee on the protection of wild birds. Presented to Parliament by command of His Majesty.

Author: 
Committee on the protection of wild birds [ORNITHOLOGY]
Publication details: 
London: Published by His Majesty's Stationery Office. 1919.
£50.00

44 pages. Folio. Unbound. In poor condition: first and last leaf fraying, torn and separated. An important document: a landmark in the history of environmentalism. The committee members were the Hon. E. S. Montagu (Under Secretary of State for India), Lord Lucas (Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Agriculture), Frank Elliott of the Home Office, E. G. B. Meade-Waldo, W. R. Ogilvie-Grant, Hugh S. Gladstone and the appropriately-named W. Eagle Clarke.

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