Birds of South Asia: The Ripley Guide - Volume I: Field Guide; Volume II: Attributes and Status

The complete first edition of this signficant and richly illustrated ornithological guide to South Asian bird life. First edition. Complete in two volumes. In the publisher's original pictorial hardback bindings. Both works feature colour-illustrated endpapers. Volume I is profusely illustrated throughout in colour. Volume II contains a number of monochrome figures in the text. A comprehensive ornithological guide to the birds of South Asia, commissioned by the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. This influential work includes details on the bird life of India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives, the Chagos Archipelago and Afghanistan. Volume I features 180 colour illustrations with a brief overview of each bird species and a number of range maps. Volume II divulges more detail on subjects such as hypothetical species, major birding localities and threatened species. The work is named for American ornithologist Sidney Dillon Ripley, whose research greatly influenced the volume but who passed four years before the book could be published, his work being continued by Pamela Rasmussen and John Anderton, among a range of further contributors. In the publisher's original pictorial hardback bindings. Externally, very smart with minor shelf wear and light marking, more visible to Volume I. Note penned by the previous owner to the title page of Volume II, "See review in Birding Asia". Internally, firmly bound. Very bright and clean. Very Good Indeed.…