Ferdinand Bauer's Remarkable Birds

Birdwatchers, birders, ornithologists, naturalists, art historians, and all those who simply enjoy superb illustrations of birds in particular or natural subjects in general are highly encouraged to add this new book to their reading list. -- John E. Riutta * Natural History Book Review * Who doesn’t love a redstart? I am not alone in thinking them the best of all birds and here, gloriously reproduced, are all three of Ferdinand Bauer’s exquisite redstart portraits. There have been two hundred generations of redstarts since Bauer committed his to paper in the 1780s and yet if we could show a redstart today these remarkable paintings made with all the birds’ own trembling beauty surely the living bird would know its likeness. -- Tim Dee, author of The Running Sky and Greenery David Attenborough has raved about them, but very few people have ever seen the bird paintings of Ferdinand Bauer – until now. The Austrian artist’s watercolours, painted following a trip to Italy and the Levant which began in 1786, are held at the Bodleian Libraries in Oxford. Only a few of Bauer’s bird portraits have ever been published and not many people have seen them, but those who do have been struck by their accuracy and beauty. -- Catherine Courtenay * Devon Life * This stunning book would be an ideal gift for historians, ornithologists and aesthetes alike... -- Ettie Neil-Gallacher * Let Nature be your Guide *