THORBURN'S BIRDS OF PREY. A Facsimile of the 1919 Edition, with a New Foreword.

First edition in book form. A facsimile of the 1919 portfolio, published by W. F. Embleton, London. Publisher's original half dark green morocco with dark green cloth, decoratively gilt ruled, with gilt titles and decoration to the spine and facsimile of Archibald Thorburn's signature in gilt to the upper board. Housed in the dark green card slipcase. Top edge gilt. Marbled endpapers. Printed on fine arts paper by Vosges-based paper mill Lana, with deckled fore- and bottom edges. Illustrated throughout with twelve beautiful colour plates by Archibald Thorburn mounted on thick cream paper and a small black and white in-text illustration of a Honey Buzzard following the preface. All colour plates are present as called for and in fine condition. A near fine copy, the binding square and firm, the gilt fresh, and with one small nick to the head of the spine. Very light spotting to the text block edges and a few faint splash marks to the 'List of Plates' page and the blank page opposite, the contents are otherwise clean throughout, and without previous owners' inscriptions or stamps. Housed in the very good, structurally sound original slipcase, which is faded, rubbed and scuffed, and has a couple of small marks to the panel edges. A very attractive production. Scarce.

The 'Collector's Edition', issued in an edition of 145 copies of which 135 (numbered 16 to 150) were for sale. This example is numbered 131 in black ink. Widely regarded as one of the finest British wildlife artists, Archibald Thorburn's (1860-1935) ornithological watercolour paintings remain highly sought-after items for collectors today. In the new foreword, publisher Major Iain Grahame discusses his decision to republish Thorburn's work in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the artist's death on 9 October 1935, "First published in 1919 and limited to only one hundred and fifty copies, ['Thorburn's Birds of Prey'] has always been a great rarity. One reason is that it was never issued in book form, but rather as a portfolio of lithographed prints, each with an accompanying page of text. Many of these have now been split up and framed, so only a very few copies still survive in their original format. To commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of Thorburn's death [...] I am proud to be republishing this little known work [...]. The best materials and the highest standards of craftsmanship have been employed, thus producing a work that I trust does justice to Archibald Thorburn's inimitable talent".