MEYER (ADOLF BERNHARD) AND JOHANN WOLF


Taschenbuch der deutschen Vögelkunde oder kurze Beschreibung aller Vögel Deutschlands, 2 vol., hand-coloured engraved frontispieces after J. M. Hergonröder, 75 hand-coloured engraved plates after G.P. Zwinger, neat pencil numeral on each, most trimmed within platemark, publisher's boards printed on spines [Anker 336; Fine Bird Books, p.93; Nissen IVB 1008; Wood, p.461; Zimmer, p.432], Frankfurt am Main, Friedrich Wilmans, 1810--BREHM (CHRISTIAN LUDWIG) Handbuch der Vögel Naturgeschichte aller Deutschlands, 47 hand-coloured engraved plates (including frontispiece, some offsetting), modern half vellum [Anker 66; Nissen IVB 140; Wood, p.255; Zimmer, p.90], 1831; Handbuch für den Liebhaber der Stuben-, Haus - und aller der Zähmung werthen Vögel, 9 hand-coloured engraved plates (including frontispiece), one uncoloured plate, spotting, contemporary cloth [Nissen IVB 141; Zimmer, p.91], 1832, Ilmenau, B.F. Voigt, FIRST EDITIONS, 8vo; and another (5)
|This Taschenbuch is "a classic handbook of German avifauna" (Wood). Wolf provided the text for the land birds, while Meyer covered the marsh and water fowl. The plates illustrate the heads and feet, for use in distinguishing characteristics of the genera, and a supplement appeared in 1822. The Handbuch was "Brehm's chief work... [in which] he went further than any other contemporary ornithologist in the division of the birds into species" (Anker).