GAME BIRDS.
Illustrated by Maurice Pledger. Written by Charles Coles. CRESCENT BOOKS New York.
Elephant Folio. 1988. 355 x 225 mm. 2 feps. Title page. 1p Dedication, Verso with b&w Drawing. 1p Acknowledgements, Verso with b&w Drawing. 1p Contents, Verso with b&w Drawing. 1p List of Plates. Verso with b&w Drawing. 1p Forward by HRH The Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh K.G., K.T. Verso with b&w Drawing. 1p Introduction to the Artist. Verso with b&w Drawing. 1p Game Conservation. [1] (p 19) - 117. 2 feps. Text block as new with 24 full-page colour plates and numerous b&w drawings. In the publisher's brown cloth boards, gilt-stamped to spine. with yellow pictorial dust-wrapper. A sumptuous production with a royal foreword. Fine condition, as new.
- First Printed 1981 this is a very handsome book with wonderful full-page coloured plates by Maurice Pledger. Plate 1 is the Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus). Besides the beautiful coloured plate there is a full-page of very detailed information about the Pheasant. We learn on Plate 3 that the Quail (Coturnix coturnix) was so over-hunted that by international agreements, Quail served in British restaurants are the Japanese species now reared in captivity like poultry. Plate 8 - The Capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus), a member of the Grouse family fly must faster than the Grouse, therefore there during the annual shoot are only 15% compared to 30-50% for grouse. We learn the meat is an acquired taste due to pine-needles in its diet which gives undertones of turpentine in the flesh. The wonderful tasting Woodcock (Scolopax rusticola) is a big favourite of chefs and game lovers. One of the few birds to be cooked and eaten with the trail intact (ie; without being first eviscerated). A generation or so ago a cold roast woodcock, accompanied by Claret, was a much-favoured breakfast for a country squire. Finely, on page 115 there is a fine aphorism for the hunter, from Chief Seath of the Suquamish Indian Tribe, dated 1855 - " What is man without beasts.? If all the beasts were gone, man would die from great loneliness of spirit, for whatever happens to the beasts also happens to man. All thigs are connected." Wise indeed.!
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Modern category
ref number:
11268