Rails of the World: A Monograph of the Family Rallidae. In slipcase

Pairing S. Dillon Ripley’s quarter century of study with over 70 color and black-and-white illustrations by J. Fenwick Lansdowne, this book marks a memorable ornithological publishing event. Both the book’s subject matter and its manner of production―lavishly illustrated, printed on special paper with relentless attention to every detail―represent worthy objects of celebration and preservation.

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