Vintage Ornithology Illustrations

September 10, 2005 11:17 AM

"A natural history of birds. Most of which have not been figur'd or describ'd, and others very little known from obscure or too brief descriptions without figures, or from figures very ill design'd." [1743] and "Birds of North America" [1903] Samples (the last 15 from each link): [1743]: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15. [1903]: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15. [MI]
posted by peacay (23 comments total)

Bonus -- "American ornithology, or, The natural history of birds inhabiting the United States, not given by Wilson : with figures drawn, engraved, and coloured, from nature."[1825]
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 . [I think these are the best.]
posted by peacay at 11:17 AM on September 10, 2005

Um, is there a reason why you bothered to list all those links to subpages of your other links, identifying them only with numbers? Since you weren't planning on providing any actual content in the links, why bother?
posted by cerebus19 at 11:25 AM on September 10, 2005

Its a saturday afternoon, if you have the time do it
posted by wheelieman at 11:38 AM on September 10, 2005

I bothered so people who just want a taste of these illustrations don't have to go to the main sites and then work out which links are illustrations and which are text scans. I did it because I would want the easy/abbreviated version and I probably wouldn't be looking at all the pictures. And I'm not sure what you mean by content. But hey ... enjoy, look, don't look *shrug*.
posted by peacay at 11:39 AM on September 10, 2005

Very cool post, thanks.
posted by interrobang at 11:55 AM on September 10, 2005

Peacay. I am encouraged by your great goodnefs to give life to the leaft spark of knowledge to thank you for linking to this very interefting publication. The illuftrations are exquifite.
posted by Cranberry at 12:33 PM on September 10, 2005

Excellent post. Thanks.
posted by Huw at 12:48 PM on September 10, 2005

figures very ill design'd

that's the height of false modesty. just look at these plates. the guy has quite a sense of humor. nicely done post.
posted by 3.2.3 at 1:02 PM on September 10, 2005

Awesome. This is right up my alley. Thanks, peacay.
posted by LeeJay at 2:12 PM on September 10, 2005

peacay: brilliant post. I really like these guys, and I likely wouldn't have seen 'em if it weren't for yr thoughtful indexing.

Which brings me to my next point: cerebus19, don't act like you own the fucking place, okay?
posted by Item at 2:21 PM on September 10, 2005

peacay, an excellent excellent post, and thanks for linking to some of the pictures as all my poor dial-up could support was a couple of looks at your random sampling. The rest will have to wait until I'm somewhere with broadband.
posted by OmieWise at 2:55 PM on September 10, 2005

cerebus, I've been meaning to thank you for that FPP that was one link to one picture. Thanks, that was brilliant. You went to a lot of trouble, and even though I commented positively in the post, I wanted to be sure you knew how much everyone valued all hte effort you expended.
posted by OmieWise at 2:58 PM on September 10, 2005

RRRROOOOYYYAAAAAALLLLLL RRRRRRUUUMMMMMBBBBBBLLLLLLLLE



As usual.
posted by fire&wings at 3:07 PM on September 10, 2005

thanks fire&wings

?
posted by Satapher at 3:47 PM on September 10, 2005

[this is good] [and not hurricane related, which makes it doublegood]
posted by killdevil at 4:00 PM on September 10, 2005

Kurt and I are into illustrated books about birds. Thanks.
posted by wakko at 5:02 PM on September 10, 2005

that's the height of false modesty. just look at these plates.

I don't know — I might have trouble figuring out what this is without reading the book.
posted by Johnny Assay at 5:15 PM on September 10, 2005

Notice the four white rectangles on the left nav bar-- they provide four different sized images. The largest one is *huge*. I love when archives provide hi-res scans!
posted by gwint at 5:39 PM on September 10, 2005

Peacay, this is an absolutely gorgeous post. As others have mentioned, thanks especially for culling the beautiful images from the text so that I didn't have to.
posted by melissa may at 6:10 PM on September 10, 2005

This is a self-link, but ... well, it's how I fell in love with birds and how strong intergenerational family love can be. I hope you enjoy it.

Thanks for a great post.
posted by WolfDaddy at 7:27 PM on September 10, 2005

"Now I fuppofe he wanting a Cock to his Hen..." Don't forget to check out the interefting text. Thanks peacay!
posted by azul at 8:29 PM on September 10, 2005

Beautiful illustrations, and something to get the mind off Katrina. Thanks, Peacay!
posted by WaterSprite at 5:07 PM on September 11, 2005

Which these are quite lovely. (This stuff always reminds me of O'Brian's Maturin.)

Thanks, peacay.
posted by ikkyu2 at 10:54 PM on September 11, 2005