François Levaillant and the Birds of Africa. Text by Kees Rookmaaker, Peter Mundy, Ian Glenn, Emma Spary. Johannesburg: The Brenthurst Press.
58 original watercolor paintings, mostly of birds of prey, the prototypes of published engravings in Oiseaux d'Afrique. Painted with brilliant clarity under Levaillant's supervision, these illustrations are reproduced at actual size to the highest standards. Levaillant's accompanying bird descriptions, including field observations, are fully translated into English for the first time. Over 250 illustrations in full color, with bibliography and index. 506 pp. Item #24-253.

De luxe edition: 2005. 150 numbered copies, bound in half leather: navy Nigerian Sokoto tanned goatskin, and hand-marbled paper, top edge gilt, hand-sewn head-and-tail bands, rounded spine with 5 raised bands and tooled in gold, in a lined slipcase covered in navy leather and hand-marbled paper. Includes two specially selected bird plates. $1,500.00

Standard edition: 2004. 850 copies, case-bound in beige Toile Elysées bookcloth, top edge gilt, head-and-tail bands, ribbon bookmark, and five-color laminated dustjacket folded in at head and tail. $450.00

About this book:

Intrepid traveller, pioneering naturalist, famous author, François Levaillant (1753-1824) was a celebrity in his own lifetime . The colorful accounts of his travels in southern Africa in the 1780s were widely read in seven languages. His sumptuous bird books, published in a golden age of natural history book production, recorded for posterity his extensive bird collections. Yet he has often been dismissed as a flamboyant Gallic adventurer with a cavalier regard for the truth. This new study seeks to re-examine this controversial figure against the backdrop of the world of natural history and its practice in the late European Enlightenment. The potent mix of science and commerce is reflected in Levaillant's fascinated pursuit of knowledge of the animal kingdom and his active trade in specimens during the social and political upheavals of the early 18th century.

The Brenthurst Library has 58 original watercolor paintings, mostly of birds of prey, the prototypes of published engravings in Oiseaux d'Afrique. Painted with brilliant clarity under Levaillant's supervision, these illustrations are reproduced at actual size to the highest standards. Levaillant's accompanying bird descriptions, including field observations, are fully translated into English for the first time, specifically for this edition, and are reassessed from the perspective of modern ornithology. Levaillant is revealed as a naturalist ahead of his time, vigorous and exceptionally skilled, whose work laid the foundations of African ornithology.

Specifications:

506 pages, over 250 illustrations in full color, with bibliography and index; printed on 130g/m² Lanagrain Blanc, 25% cotton, pH neutral paper, manufactured in France for The Brenthurst Press; the 58 bird plates are printed on 150g/m2 Phoenixmotion Xantur; the separate map printed on 115g/m2 Lanagrain Blanc.

De luxe edition:
150 copies, numbered 1 to 150, bound under the supervision of Alan Jeffrey, Binder at The Brenthurst Library, by Graphicraft, Cape Town, in half leather: navy Nigerian Sokoto tanned goatskin, and hand-marbled paper, top edge gilded, hand-sewn head-and-tail bands, rounded spine with 5 raised bands and tooled in gold, in a lined slipcase covered in navy leather and hand-marbled paper. Subscribers to the de luxe edition will, additionally, be given 2 specially selected bird plates.

Standard edition:
850 copies, plus 50 production copies (not for sale) for libraries and museums, not numbered, case-bound in beige Toile Elysées bookcloth, top edge gilded, head-and-tail bands, ribbon bookmark, and five-color laminated dustjacket folded in at head and tail.

Authors:

Dr Kees Rookmaaker, zoologist and author of The Zoological Exploration of Southern Africa 1660-1790 (1989).

Dr Peter Mundy, professor of ornithology in the National University of Science and Technology in Bulawayo, an authority on birds of prey and the lead author of The Vultures of Africa (1992).

Dr Ian Glenn, associate professor at the University of Cape Town, and researcher in France on the life of Levaillant.

Dr Emma Spary, specialist in the history of natural history and author of Utopia's Garden: French Natural History from Old Regime to Revolution.