Birds The Art of Ornithology

About this book

Jonathan Elphick tells the remarkable story of the development of bird art through the centuries. The book features early, skilfully executed but often fanciful images of birds, scientific illustrations produced during the ages of exploration, and modern approaches capturing the essence of these freest of all creatures.

The 2023 pocket edition is a reduced-size version that is chunky yet portable, and retains the lavish finish of the original gift book. The outstanding selection of images from the unrivalled collection at the Natural History Museum includes exquisitely crafted works from some of the most famous bird artists ever published including Audubon, Lear, MacGillivray and Gould.

Customer Reviews

Biography

Jonathan Elphick is a natural history author, editor and consultant who specialises in ornithology. During a career spanning more than 40 years, he has worked on many books, including writing award-winning titles such as Birdwatcher's Handbook. Among many other projects, he spent four years as researcher for the acclaimed bestseller Birds Britannica, written by Mark Cocker. Jonathan has travelled extensively to study bird life and was elevated to Scientific Fellowship of the Zoological Society of London in recognition of his services to the popularisation of zoology. The Library of the Natural History Museum is a repository for one of the most exciting and comprehensive collections of natural history literature and artworks to be found anywhere in the world. It holds over half a million artworks, comprising one of Britain's biggest art collections and representing all the great natural history artists, and many thousands of books, including some richly illustrated volumes of great historical significance.