GAMEBIRDS & WATERFOWL OF SOUTHERN AFRICA: A COLLECTION O...

Estimate

R600 - R900

Hammer

R750

GAMEBIRDS & WATERFOWL OF SOUTHERN AFRICA: A COLLECTION OF 68 WATER-COLOURS by C. G. Finch-Davies (Limited Edition) by C. G. Finch-Davies

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Johnnesburg: Winchester Press, 1986

4to, Original hardcover binding, with gilt lettering to the spine. With dust jacket, and a loosely inserted reservation/order form. With frontispiece and 68 full colour plates, collated and complete. Also includes a short biography of the artist. Book comes in slipcase.

Limited edition of 5000 copies, of which this is no. 897.

Claude Gibney Finch-Davies (24 May 1875 – 4 August 1920) was a British soldier, ornithologist and painter who produced a series of paintings of birds of South Africa in the early part of the 20th century. As a professional soldier Davies was posted to various remote places in the Eastern Cape, and this fostered an interest in natural history and in particular, birdlife. Within a year or two, he was collecting bird specimens and starting sketches and paintings. In his field sketchbooks he provided copious notes about each species he illustrated - at first his own field observations, but later augmented by information culled from books and scientific journals. His style of painting rapidly evolved to show great detail of the plumage while retaining a lifelike appearance. By 1905 he had produced some 200 paintings of consistently high quality.