The Bedside Book of Birds: An Avian Miscellany, Gibson, Graeme. Published by Doubleday Canada, 2005. 8vo up to 9½” tall., xiii, 369 pp. with colour illustrations; illustrated endpapers. Green cloth boards. In fine, unread condition; light top edge ruffle to unclipped jacket which is otherwise fine.
“… an unprecedented and enchanting treasure trove of paintings, drawings, poems, essays, and scientific observations, beautifully captures the interest and emotions birds evoke. The illustrations range from early cave paintings to Audubon’s famous portraits to abstract works created in the twentieth century. There are writings by Shakespeare, Coleridge, Poe, Ted Hughes, and Jorge Luis Borges, among many others. Excerpts from famous scientific works, including Darwin’s observations on the tameness of the Galapagos Islands’ birds, and popular nature writers as W. H. Hudson, Peter Matthiessen, Farley Mowat, and Barry Lopez.”
