Rails of the World: A Monograph of the Family Rallidae

RIPLEY, S. Dillon; LANSDOWNE, J. Fenwick (illus.)

ISBN 10: 091988007X / ISBN 13: 9780919880078

Published by M. F. Feheley, Toronto, 1977

About this Item

xx, 406 p. 37 cm. 41 colour paintings by J. Fenwick Lansdowne. 17 distribution maps. Burgundy spine with beige cloth boards. No slipcase. Ripley was an American ornithologist and wildlife conservationist who acted as Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution from 1964 to 1984. Also from the Smithsonian is Storrs Olson, one of the world's foremost avian paleontologists. The Canadian connection here is illustrator James Fenwick Lansdowne (1937 2008), a self-taught wildlife artist who grew up in Victoria, B.C. His pictured birds are similar in style to the work of Audubon, often featuring a specific species against a largely white background, but Lansdowne's birds are more life-like and more natural postures than Audubon's.

Seller Inventory # 106137

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Rails of the World: A Monograph of the Family Rallidae
• Publisher: M. F. Feheley, Toronto
• Publication Date: 1977
• ISBN 10: 091988007X
• ISBN 13: 9780919880078
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: fine
• Seller catalogs:
  • Birds

About this title

Synopsis

Book by Ripley, Sidney Dillon

Review

Dillon Ripley, the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institute, a scholar who knows the world's more esoteric birds perhaps as well as anyone, and Fenwick Lansdowne, one of our finest bird portraitists, have combined their talents to produce a work which will be coveted not only by serious ornithologists but also by every collector of fine natural history books. --Roger Tory Peterson

The Rails of the World fills up a very important gap, and it does it unusually well. The text and the illustrations are both of the highest quality, and it is also easy to read and to consult. The rails, of course, constitute one of the most interesting, attractive and widely distributed group of birds. --Jean Delacour