Tales from the Island of Serendip 4 4

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Ching first exhibited his bird paintings in Auckland in the 1960s. His first exhibition, Thirty Birds, in 1968 was a sell-out, with Ching attracting the attention of Sir William Collins of Collins Publishing. Sir William, a keen ornithologist, invited Ching to the United Kingdom to produce a book of his bird paintings. However, upon his arrival, Ching also came into contact with the publishers of The Reader’s Digest who, along with Collins Publishing, intended to produce a major book on the birds of Britain. Ching was commissioned to paint 230 full-colour studies, and The Reader’s Digest Book of British Birds, published in 1969, became the world’s most successful and biggest selling ornithological book, and is still in print.