Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - October - 2018 Issue

The J. Fenwick Lansdowne Bird Book Collection from Bjarne Tokerud Bookseller

The Bird Book Collection of J. Fenwick Lansdowne.

Bjarne Tokerud Bookseller has published a catalogue of The Bird Book Collection of J. Fenwick Lansdowne. Though born in Hong Kong, Lansdowne spent his entire life past the age of three living in Victoria, British Columbia. Lansdowne was an extraordinary artist of birds. His artwork was displayed at such institutions as the American Museum of Natural History and the Smithsonian. Along with his paintings, Lansdowne illustrated numerous ornithological books. His work is most often compared to that of Audubon, which is about as high an endorsement as you can get in this field. Fenwick Lansdowne died in 2008.

 

This catalogue contains the personal collection of bird books from his library. They served as both reference works and for pleasure. While Lansdowne was a Canadian, Tokerud is a Canadian bookseller, and his catalogues are usually concentrated in Canadian books, Lansdowne's collection was international in scope. He wanted representatives from all over the world, so this selection is not focused on Canada nor any other one country. Here are a few items that he owned.

 

There is really nowhere else to begin a description of Lansdowne's books than with the one that undoubtedly was his greatest inspiration. That would be John James Audubon's The Birds of America. He did not possess the double elephant folio first edition. Few can quite afford a book which in top condition can sell for over $10 million. He did have a set of the first octavo edition, published in seven volumes from 1840-1844. This is no ordinary book even if not on a level of the folio. The first edition was so costly to produce that Audubon was not able to sell enough copies to make much of a profit on it. He then realized he could still make this long process of creating the book work financially if he could produce an affordable edition. The result was the creation of this first octavo edition. It does have one advantage over its more expensive earlier version. It adds 65 new images that were not contained in the folio. Item 2. Priced at CA $75,000 (Canadian dollars, or approximately $57,778 in U.S. dollars).

 

This next item is an uncommon work by Aududon that chronologically fits in between the publication of the first edition and the first octavo edition of The Birds of America. Audubon printed his first edition as a plate book with a separate text volume known as the Ornithological Biography. He did this because Britain required ten copies of a book to grant it a copyright and ten copies of Birds would have cost him a fortune. So he published, and copyrighted, only the text. However, Audubon felt that the text was somewhat haphazard in its presentation, so he determined to create something of an index to his and other bird books that would bring it all into some semblance of order. It was published in 1839, between the two editions of Birds. The title is A Synopsis of the Birds of North America, and despite being early Audubon, it is not expensive. It lacks illustrations, and Audubon is far more appreciated for his drawings than his text. Item 1. CA $450 (US $346).

 

Some have referred to Prideaux John Selby as the British Audubon, though it should be the other way around. Selby published his drawings of British birds prior to Audubon. His drawings were considered the best of the pre-Audubon artists, being more life-like and scientifically accurate than most. He also had them printed life size, in a double elephant folio like Audubon. This is not a book you read in bed. Actually, and again like Audubon, you do not read this volume at all. Selby, too, published separate text volumes so he would not have to place many copies of his expensive plate volume with British copyright authorities. Offered is volume 1 of 4, Plates to Selby's Illustrations of British Ornithology. This is the first of 2 plate volumes (the others being the text). Not all copies are identical as the plates were originally issued separately. For volume 1, the years were 1818-1823. Item 31. CA $15,000 (US $11,552).

 

Next we have one of the earlier, particularly in terms of being reasonably scientific, books on birds. Item 44 is the Ornithologiae Libri Tres of Francis Willughby. This is the Latin edition, published in 1676, two years ahead of the English edition. Prior to Willughby, the scientific value of bird books was very limited. They tended to be based on factors such as edibility, perceived human-like attributes, singing ability, and often included mythical birds such as the phoenix. Willughby divided the categories to land and water birds, and then classified them by anatomical features, notably beak and foot shapes. Willughby's book was completed and published by his friend John Ray, Willughby having died four years earlier. CA $6,000 (US $4,636).

 

This next book doesn't describe mythical birds, though they might as well be. Rather, it deals with extinct birds. Item 35 is The Dodo and Its Kindred; or, The History, Affinities, and Osteology of the Dodo, Solitaire and Other Extinct Birds of the Islands Mauritius, Rodriguez, and Bourbon, by Hugh Edwin Strickland and Alexander Gordon Melville, published in 1848. Strickland was a geologist, Gordon a comparative anatomist. What particularly interested them about the extinct birds of these islands, the dodo in particular, was their recent extinction, and the fact that humans had been the cause. CA $3,500 (US $2,705).

 

Bjarne Tokerud Bookseller may be reached at 250-381-2230 or bjarnetokerud@shaw.ca. Their website is www.bjarnetokerud.com.

Rare Book Monthly

  • Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A RUTH BADER GINSBURG BEADED JUDICIAL COLLAR. $80,000 - $120,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: ONLY KNOWN COPY OF THE ONLY BOOK BY THE REMARKABLE EVE ADAMS. $8,000 - $12,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A COMPLETE RUN OF VISIONAIRE MAGAZINE THROUGH 2010. $6,000 - $9,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: LAW REVIEW OFFPRINT SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY RUTH BADER GINSBURG. $3,000 - $5,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: META REBNER'S WORKING SCRIPT OF THE LOVED ONE. $1,500 - $2,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A KATHY GROVE PORTRAIT OF CYNDI LAUPER FOR THE FEBRUARY 1989 DETAILS COVER. $800 - $1,200
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A PLASTIC COAT BY MILLIE DAVID FEATURED IN SOHO NEWS STYLE SECTION, FROM THE COLLECTION OF ANNIE FLANDERS. $500 - $700
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A RUTH BADER GINSBURG JEWELRY BOX. $600 - $900
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A SET OF JONI MITCHELL LYRICS FOR "IF I HAD A HEART." $2,000 - $3,000
  • 19th Century Shop
    Catalogue 198 just published
    19th Century Shop. Darwin and Wallace, first printing of the first paper on natural selection
    19th Century Shop. Shakespeare’s Poems, first collected edition
    19th Century Shop. Walt Whitman portrait inscribed with a Leaves of Grass poem
    19th Century Shop. Major Elizabeth Barrett Browning manuscript notebook
    19th Century Shop. Spock's Baby Book, original MS
    19th Century Shop. Cellarius, Harmonia Macrocosmica, the great celestial atlas
  • Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [RUTH, George Herman “Babe” (1895-1948)]. Signed photograph. Circa 1930s. 191 x 248 mm. $1,500 to $2,500.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: HARRISON, Benjamin. Document signed (“Benj Harrison”) as governor of Virginia, certifying the service of Daniel Cumbo, a Black Revolutionary soldier. $6,000 to $9,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: ONE OF THE FIRST PRINTED ANNOUNCEMENTS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: FIRST PRINTING OF LINCOLN’S IMMORTAL GETTYSBURG ADDRESS. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: HIGHLY IMPORTANT MORMON ARCHIVE. ALLEY, George. Archive of 23 Autograph Letters Signed by Mormon Convert George Alley to His Brother Joseph Alley. $10,000 to $20,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [AVIATION]. [ARMSTRONG, Neil A.] Aviation Hall of Fame Gold Medal MS64 NGC, Awarded to Neil Armstrong in 1979. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: NEWLY DISCOVERED FIRST PRINTING OF "WITH MALICE TOWARDS NONE... " FROM THE ONLY NEWSPAPER ACTUALLY ALLOWED TO PARTICIPATE IN LINCOLN’S SECOND INAUGURAL PROCESSION. $4,000 to $8,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: THE MOST IMPORTANT GEORGE WASHINGTON DOCUMENT IN PRIVATE HANDS; GEORGE WASHINGTON’S COMMISSION AS COMMANDER IN CHIEF, 1775, ONE OF ONLY TWO ORIGINALS. $150,000 to $250,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: A VERY RARE ACCOUNT OF BLACKBEARD’S DEATH AND ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PIRATE ITEMS EXTANT. $3,000 to $5,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: EDISON, Thomas. Patent for Edison’s Improvements on the Electric-Light, No. 219,628. [Washington, D.C.: U.S. Patent Office], 16 September 1879. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [VIETNAM WAR]. The original pen used by Secretary of State William P. Rogers to sign the Vietnam Peace Agreement, Paris, 27 January 1973. $10,000 to $15,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: SONS OF LIBERTY FOUNDER COLONEL BARRÉ ANNOTATED TITLE-PAGE, “WHICH OUGHT TO ROUSE UP BRITISH ATTENTION”. $4,000 to $6,000.
  • Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: [Langland (William)]. The vision of Pierce Plowman, nowe the seconde time imprinted..., Roberte Crowley, 1550. £8,000 to £10,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: [Shakespeare (William)]. [Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies], second folio edition, [by Tho.Cotes, for Robert Allot], [1632]. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Bible, Czech Biblia Bohemica, first complete Bible printed in the Czech vernacular, Prague, August 1488. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: Shabthai Tzvi.- Collection of four printed and illustrated broadsides detailing the appearance, rise and fall of the false messiah, Shabthai Tzvi, Augsburg, 1666-67. £40,000 to £60,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Leaf from the Beauvais Missal, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment, [Northern France (perhaps Beauvais or Amiens)], [fourteenth century (c.1310)]. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Aubrey (John). [Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme], manuscript in English, Latin and Greek, [c. 1693]. £30,000 to £50,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: Byron (George Gordon Noel, Lord). Poems on Various Occasions, first edition, Harriet Maltby's copy, Newark, Printed by S. & J. Ridge, 1807. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Tolkien (J.R.R.) The Hobbit, first edition, second impression with dust-jacket, 1937 [but 1938]. £7,000 to £10,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Blake (William).- Thornton (Robert John). The Pastorals of Virgil, 2 vol., engraved plates by William Blake, 1821. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: America.- Mount (William J.) & Thomas Page. The English Pilot…, [bound with] The Fourth Book, describing The West Indies Navigation from Hudson's-Bay to the River Amazones, 1721. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Oldfield (Henry Ambrose), Rajman Singh Chitrakar & others. An album of 160 photographs and 13 original artworks, (1833-1919), [c. 1850s-1880s]. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Audubon (John James) [and William MacGillivray]. Ornithological Biography…, 5 vol., first edition, presentation copy inscribed by Audubon, Edinburgh, 1831-49 [i.e. 1831-39]. £10,000 to £15,000.
  • Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Winston Churchill. The Second World War. Set of First-Edition Volumes. 6,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: A.A. Milne, Ernest H. Shepard. A Collection of The Pooh Books. Set of First-Editions. 18,600 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Salvador Dalí, Lewis Carroll. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Finely Bound and Signed Limited Edition. 15,000 USD
    Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ian Fleming. Live and Let Die. First Edition. 9,500 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter Series. Finely Bound First Printing Set of Complete Series. 5,650 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell to Arms. First Edition, First Printing. 4,200 USD

Review Search

Archived Reviews

Ask Questions