Manual of the Birds of New Zealand
New Zealand: George Didsbury, Government Printer, 1882. First Edition. Original cloth. Octavo : vii (ix) 107 (108, Author's advertisement), iii (List of publications of the Colonial Museum and Geological Survey Department of New Zealand) : 39 plates (including IA and XIVA) as called for at p. iv : dark brown eps : original blue cloth covered boards : double border in black to top boards with illustration of kiwi bird and lettering in gilt plus gilt decoration to the letter 'M' in 'Manual' : black head and foot bands and gilt lettering to spine : INSCRIBED by the author to Miss Fairchild and dated Feb. 25, 1891.
Head of spine pushed and tail is abraded; corners pushed; light foxing to the verso of the frontis; occasional fox mark thereafter; soil mark to the edge of plate xxvi; expert repair to the front eps along the gutter.
[Sitwell, Fine Bird Books, p.85]. Very good. Item #2116
Miss Fairchild was the daughter of Captain John Fairchild (1864-1898), a master mariner who lived in New Zealand and was killed in a tragic accident on board the Tutanekai in 1898.
Price: $850.00