[Rarebooks] FS: Finely Bound 1876 BIRDS OF PREY Illustrated with Albumen Photographs

[Charles Agvent]

VENNOR, Henry G. OUR BIRDS OF PREY, OR THE EAGLES, HAWKS AND OWLS OF 
CANADA. Montreal: Dawson Brothers, 1876. First Edition. Quarto (7-1/4" x 
10-1/4") in recent black morocco leather with elaborate gilt-ruled 
covers and spine with hand-marbled paper and red morocco onlays, gilt 
dentelles, marbled endpapers; viii, 154 pages. Illustrated with 30 
mounted albumen photograph plates on printed mounts by the 
Scottish-Canadian photographer William Notman, including the 
frontispiece depicting a bald eagle. The introduction notes that "the 
pictures produced by it are not only beautiful, but truthful to the most 
minute detail" and contains "every species of Falcon, Hawk, Buzzard, 
Harrier, Eagle and Owl, which has up to the present time been found in 
Canada." William Notman published a popular series of books of 
photographic portraits to 1868, including Longfellow and Buffalo Bill, 
after which he only worked on books produced by other artists, such as 
this. Accompanying Vennor's detailed text stemming from months spent 
outdoors studying the birds, Notman's photographs are early examples in 
the field of natural history. Lande 2277; Wood 610; Zimmer page 652. 
Slight foxing to title page and a couple of photographs which are in 
excellent condition. Fine.

Signature of John Platt, 1876, at left top of title page, also inscribed 
To Wilfred Rolland from A.S. Christmas 1915, right top of page. 
Inscription on front endpaper: "Book bought by my great-grandfather, 
John Platt, the year he died, 1876. John Platt born 1806 in Montreal, he 
was Empire Loyalist, married 1826 to Elizabeth Eleanor Charlotte Augusta 
Cavendish Bowes-Lyon, she died in 1837. John Platt served against the 
rebels in 1837. Book became property of my grandfather Adam Skaife, who 
in 1915 gave it to my brother. At his accidental death, my mother--Mary 
Lucy Skaife, gave the book to me. F. A. Rolland, 1928." ADAM SKAIFE was 
a trading partner with the Molson brothers, brewers in the Province of 
Quebec. HENRY GEORGE VENNOR (1840 - 1884) was a Canadian geologist and 
ornithologist. He attended McGill College, where he studied natural 
sciences and civil engineering under the geologists John William Dawson 
and Thomas Sterry Hunt, graduating with honors in 1860. While a student 
Vennor collected Montreal Island fossils and wrote on ornithology for 
the Canadian Naturalist and Geologist and the British American Magazine 
of Toronto. After McGill, he joined the trading company of John 
Frothingham and William Workman in Montreal, then in 1865 accepted an 
apprenticeship under Sir William Edmond Logan, director of the 
Geological Survey of Canada, becoming a full member a year later. For 
fifteen years he worked on the geology of Ontario and Pontiac County, 
Quebec. WILLIAM NOTMAN (1826-1891) founded the Notman photographic 
studio in 1856. During its 78 years in operation, the studio and the 
personal history of its founder were closely linked. After finishing his 
studies in Scotland, Notman began his career in business by working in 
the family firm. But when it ran into financial difficulties he decided 
to move to Montréal. In 1860, Notman photographed the Prince of Wales 
during his visit to Montréal, then placed over 350 of the photographs 
into a maple box. This box was presented to the Prince of Wales by the 
Canadian government, an honor that earned Notman the title of 
"Photographer to the Queen." Also in 1860, Notman took part in the 
founding of the Art Association of Montreal, and the association's very 
first meeting was held in Notman's Bleury Street studio. Notman's 
photographers immortalized the most influential men and women of the 
day, the most beautiful panoramas, the wildest and the most developed 
regions in the country, the latest technological advances and First 
Nations peoples. Notman also received medals at the world exhibition in 
Montréal in 1860, in London in 1862, in Paris in 1867 and 1878, in 
Australia in 1877 and again in London in 1886. (#020737)        $1,500

https://www.charlesagvent.com/pages/books/020737/henry-g-vennor/our-birds-of-prey-or-the-eagles-hawks-and-owls-of-canada

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