The Life of Birds by Joel Carl Welty

The Life of Birds (1964 Constable Edition in Pictorial Dust Jacket)

The Classic Ornithology Textbook Surveying Flight, Anatomy, Behaviour, Migration and Evolution

Bibliographic Specifications

• Title: The Life of Birds
• Author: Joel Carl Welty
• Publisher: Constable & Co., Ltd., London
• Publication Date: 1964
• ISBN: None Issued (Pre-ISBN Era)
• Edition Details: First Constable Edition, London, 1964 (first published in this edition 1964).
• Binding: Publisher's grey-green cloth boards with a red and blue printed feather band design to the front board, in a pictorial dust jacket.
• Physical Format: Medium-large octavo, over 350 pages. Illustrated with line drawings, photographs and maps, including zoogeographic maps to the endpapers.
• Language: English

Official Condition Report

• The Book: Very Good (VG)
• Exterior / Boards: The pale grey-green cloth boards are sound and square, with a red and blue feather band design to the front. The spine cloth is intact with no obvious damage and shows light rubbing at the foot. The corners are fairly sharp.
• Interior: The text block is tight and the pages open flat. The paper is toned to a cream colour with age, and the pages seen are clean. The endpapers carry printed zoogeographic maps. A pencilled price or code '8/06' appears at the top right of the front endpaper. No bookplates, stamps or inscriptions.
• Provenance: Pencilled price '672/-' to the back of the dust jacket and pencilled '8/06' to the front endpaper. No bookplates, stamps or inscriptions.
• The Dust Jacket: Present. The pictorial jacket has a King Vulture illustration to the front and a yellow back panel with contents. It shows honest wear: chipping and loss at the head of the spine, a small tear at the top of the front panel and another to the front edge near the right, rubbing and chipping at the foot of the spine, and a small nick to the lower edge of the back. The back panel carries a pencilled price and a faint pencil line, with a small red spot. The jacket is complete and will be supplied protected in a durable archival-type plastic cover.

Synopsis & Historical Value

First published in the United States in 1962, Joel Carl Welty's The Life of Birds became a standard college text and is later described as a venerable and classic textbook. This is the London issue by Constable & Co. of 1964, reviewed in Oryx in August 1964.

The book is a broad survey of bird biology. It moves through flight, anatomy and feathers, behaviour, nests and eggs, migration, ecology, geography and evolution, with line drawings, photographs, maps and charts throughout. The jacket presents it as a reference suited to both newcomers and enthusiasts.

A solid, honestly worn copy of an enduring work of ornithology, of interest to natural history readers and to collectors of Africana and wildlife literature who want the foundational general texts on birds.

Author Profile: Joel Carl Welty

Joel Carl Welty (1901-1986) was an American ornithologist, born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, on 30 May 1901. He joined the biology department of Beloit College in Wisconsin in 1934 and taught there as a professor.

The Life of Birds was his principal work. He died on 29 May 1986, having just finished work on a fourth edition, which appeared in 1988 revised with Luis Baptista.

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