Calburn's Birds of Southern Africa

Calburn's Birds of Southern Africa (Illustrated 1969 Field Sketchbook with Inscription)

A Painter's Pictorial Record of Bird-Drawing Expeditions Across Southern Africa, in Paintings, Field Sketches and Notes

Bibliographic Specifications

• Title: Calburn's Birds of Southern Africa: paintings, field sketches and field notes
• Publisher: Purnell & Sons S.A. (Pty) Ltd., Cape Town ; Johannesburg ; London
• Publication Date: 1969
• Edition Details: Purnell trade issue, 1969. Inscribed by previous owners, dated December 1974.
• Binding: Publisher's blue cloth hardcover with a gilt secretarybird line-drawing to the front board.
• Physical Format: Large, heavy quarto-size illustrated book with colour plates and pencil-sketch illustrations. Without maps.
• Language: English

Official Condition Report

• The Book: Very Good (VG)
• Exterior / Boards: The blue cloth boards are clean and free of obvious damage, with a gilt secretarybird line-drawing to the front board. There is light bumping at the bottom of the spine, where a little thread shows, and the foot of the spine is slightly worn. The back board is clean blue cloth.
• Interior: The pages are clean and bright overall, with light toning at the gutter and a crease along the front free endpaper hinge. There are small dark specks on the endpaper. The binding is tight and sound. The text pages with pencil-sketch illustrations are clean.
• Provenance: Handwritten blue-ink inscription on the title page: "December, 1974. To our Darling Douglas, May we all be spared to enjoy many more Christmases together. Love, Mark, Brenda, + Verity".
• The Dust Jacket: Present, and protected in a durable archival-type plastic cover, but in poor condition. The front panel shows heavy foxing, mottling and staining, and the edges are creased, chipped and browned. A large patch of paper has peeled away from the spine, leaving white, chipped and rubbed head and tail, and there are tape-like repair marks at the top of the flap. The back panel is toned and stained. The front flap carries the author biography and the rear flap the blurb and the original price of R 10.00. Offered as a working jacket on a sound book.

Synopsis & Historical Value

Published by Purnell in 1969, Calburn's Birds of Southern Africa is a large, lavishly illustrated book on watching and drawing birds in the field, written and painted by Simon Calburn. It was his first published work, and he described it as a pictorial record of bird-drawing expeditions.

The book presents birds from the major kinds of terrain: forest and bush, mountain and veld, marsh and vlei, and sea and shore. Pencil field sketches, watercolour studies and large finished plates sit beside text on how the artist works, the difficulties he meets and how birds live. The text mixes field anecdotes with information, and treats birds as individuals with distinct characters.

Its illustrations are a major attraction, with 80 plates including 18 full-page colour plates. This copy carries a warm family inscription dated December 1974, a pleasing mark of a book given as a Christmas gift. It will suit collectors of Africana natural history and South African bird art.

Author Profile: Simon Calburn

Simon Calburn (born 1938) is a South African bird artist. Calburn's Birds of Southern Africa was his first published work. In 1987 he provided the illustrations for The Owls of Southern Africa, written by Alan Kemp.

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