Bird by Lois Darling & Louis Darling

Bird (First UK Edition in Illustrated Dust Jacket)

A Lavishly Line-Illustrated Introduction to Bird Life by Two Celebrated American Illustrators and Naturalists

Bibliographic Specifications

• Title: Bird
• Authors: Lois Darling & Louis Darling
• Publisher: Methuen & Co Ltd, London
• Publication Date: 1963
• ISBN: None Issued (Pre-ISBN Era)
• Edition Details: First UK Edition, first published in Great Britain by Methuen in 1963.
• Binding: Publisher's blue cloth hardcover with dust jacket.
• Physical Format: Octavo, approximately 220 x 145 mm, 261 pages. Illustrated throughout with the authors' line drawings.
• Language: English

Official Condition Report

• The Book: Good (G)
• Exterior / Boards: The plain blue cloth boards are clean and solid, with only slight rubbing to the spine edges and no obvious damage.
• Interior: The cream pages are clean and tidy, with the line illustrations crisp, and the binding feels tight. There is slight toning to the endpapers. No signatures or bookplates.
• Provenance: A partly legible ownership name stamp, apparently reading N. F. A. Campbell, to the front flap of the dust jacket.
• The Dust Jacket: Present, and protected in a durable archival-type plastic cover. The jacket is worn, with chipping and loss at the head and foot of the spine, a chip to the top of the front panel, edge wear, rubbing and fading, and small tears to the back panel including a crease and tear near the top and another in the upper right. Slight toning to the flap.

Synopsis & Historical Value

First published in Britain by Methuen in 1963, Bird is the UK issue of a book that appeared in the United States in 1962. It is a general illustrated study of birds, written and drawn by Lois and Louis Darling, with a foreword by Dr N. Tinbergen.

The text surveys bird anatomy, physiology, behaviour and the reproductive cycle, supported by the authors' own line drawings throughout. It is aimed at the interested general reader rather than the specialist, and sets out how birds are built and how they live.

A pleasing copy for collectors of natural history and ornithology, and for those who follow the work of the Darlings as illustrators.

Author Profile: Lois Darling and Louis Darling

Louis Darling (1916–1970) was an American illustrator, author and environmentalist from Connecticut. His first book, Greenhead, appeared in 1954, and his The Gull's Way (1965) won the John Burroughs Medal. Together with his wife Lois, he illustrated Rachel Carson's Silent Spring.

Lois MacIntyre Darling (1917–1989) was an American author, illustrator and researcher. Beyond their joint titles, which include The Science of Life, Around Us and A Place in the Sun, she later built a model of HMS Beagle for the American Museum of Natural History and wrote about the vessel.

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