It's that time of year again: Post your favorite acquisitions of 2021... 8 8

[Flex Mentallo]

Since comics have not been my collecting focus this year, I hope no-one will mind if I post one non-related grail, one of many bird illustration books acquired in the past twelve months, but the one true grail for reasons of scarcity, demand, quality, content and price. [The first two images are of my actual copy, interior illos internet sourced to spare you my atrocious photographs! The text is also borrowed.]

Birds Drawn For John Gould By Edward Lear

Edward Lear had an eye for landscapes and an ear for rhyme, but it was neither as a travel painter nor as a poet that he first displayed his prolific talent. Between 1832 – when he was just 20 – and 1838, Lear created 80 bird portraits for the naturalist and entrepreneur John Gould.

For many, they are the world’s finest ornithological illustrations.The plates were produced using the fledgling art of lithography and coloured by hand. They featured in Gould’s celebrated books, intermingled with the work of other, often less accomplished artists. David Attenborough first saw one of Lear’s plates in the 1950s, and was so struck by its precision and grace that he determined to collect them all. When the collection was complete, he had them encased in an original 19th-century leather binding. To celebrate the bicentenary of Lear’s birth, Attenborough allowed The Folio Society to reproduce the entire volume in facsimile.

‘Lear’s bird plates, to my eyes at least, rank among the finest of their kind … to know that they will now be available to a broader audience, published together for the first time, is immensely rewarding. What’s more, the work undertaken by The Folio Society to reproduce not only the prints, but even an original 19th-century binding, has produced an edition worthy of this great artist. Bound in full leather, elaborately gold-blocked, it is a truly remarkable reproduction. There could hardly be a better celebration of Lear’s 200th anniversary.’ David Attenborough

A spectacular body of work: The majority of the plates are from The Birds of Europe, a vast publication issued in 22 parts between 1832 and 1837. The rest are from subsequent publications by Gould, including a volume devoted to the toucans.

Lear handled this wide range of species with astonishing skill. Whether painting the diminutive tengmalm’s owl, the exotic green araçari or the little egret with its long, elegant neck and delicate plumage, he approached each subject with superb attention to detail. Also remarkable was his ability to capture the idiosyncrasies of each bird, from the defiant tilt of an outsized beak to the solemn glare of a gleaming yellow eye.

In his introduction to this magnificent facsimile, David Attenborough explores the early development of Lear’s artistry, his partnership with Gould, and the innovation and flair that helped to make these bird prints exceptional. Attenborough’s knowledge and enthusiasm make this the perfect introductory text.

An ‘imperial Folio’ edition crafted in the image of the great 19th-century bird books: Meticulously reproducing Attenborough’s original 19th-century binding, this edition captures the elegant aesthetic of the imposing bird books in which Lear’s work originally appeared. Each copy contains a limitation certificate, printed letterpress, and signed by David Attenborough.

Limited to just 780 copies, this is the only published edition to gather together all the prints that Lear created for John Gould.

 

[Flex Mentallo]

[Badger]

On 12/7/2021 at 10:37 AM, Flex Mentallo said:

These are beautiful. What are they? Prints?

[buttock]

On 12/7/2021 at 1:17 PM, Badger said:

These are beautiful. What are they? Prints?

They're birds. 

[Flex Mentallo]

On 12/7/2021 at 8:17 PM, Badger said:

These are beautiful. What are they? Prints?

Yes, they are lithographs - Gould chose to use lithography after seeing how successfully Edward Lear had used the technique in his illustrations of the Family of Psittacidae [The Parrots - I also have a facsimile of this from 1975, and included some of these above] in 1830. Lear found lithography the perfect process for producing the softness he required for his depiction of feathers in his parrot illustrations and long, curving lines were easily drawn freehand. Lear believed that where the technique of etching failed because of the necessary stiffness of line, lithography offered him great freedom.

[jimjum12]

My that's a large tome, one would think it should be registered as a deadly weapon. 

Congrat's, Flex ... I shudder to think what something like that would cost. GOD BLESS...

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

[Flex Mentallo]

On 12/7/2021 at 8:58 PM, jimjum12 said:

My that's a large tome, one would think it should be registered as a deadly weapon. 

Congrat's, Flex ... I shudder to think what something like that would cost. GOD BLESS...

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

Thanks Jimbo! In a sense it cost me nothing. I traded a bookcase full of history books for a bunch of artbooks, and this was the biggest in every sense. It also saved me having to read all that history -now I just look at pictures!

[Flex Mentallo]

I have lots of others btw, but will save them for the more general thread the OP promised us.

[Randall Dowling]

On 12/7/2021 at 10:36 AM, Flex Mentallo said:

Since comics have not been my collecting focus this year, I hope no-one will mind if I post one non-related grail, one of many bird illustration books acquired in the past twelve months, but the one true grail for reasons of scarcity, demand, quality, content and price. [The first two images are of my actual copy, interior illos internet sourced to spare you my atrocious photographs! The text is also borrowed.]

Birds Drawn For John Gould By Edward Lear

Edward Lear had an eye for landscapes and an ear for rhyme, but it was neither as a travel painter nor as a poet that he first displayed his prolific talent. Between 1832 – when he was just 20 – and 1838, Lear created 80 bird portraits for the naturalist and entrepreneur John Gould.

For many, they are the world’s finest ornithological illustrations.The plates were produced using the fledgling art of lithography and coloured by hand. They featured in Gould’s celebrated books, intermingled with the work of other, often less accomplished artists. David Attenborough first saw one of Lear’s plates in the 1950s, and was so struck by its precision and grace that he determined to collect them all. When the collection was complete, he had them encased in an original 19th-century leather binding. To celebrate the bicentenary of Lear’s birth, Attenborough allowed The Folio Society to reproduce the entire volume in facsimile.

‘Lear’s bird plates, to my eyes at least, rank among the finest of their kind … to know that they will now be available to a broader audience, published together for the first time, is immensely rewarding. What’s more, the work undertaken by The Folio Society to reproduce not only the prints, but even an original 19th-century binding, has produced an edition worthy of this great artist. Bound in full leather, elaborately gold-blocked, it is a truly remarkable reproduction. There could hardly be a better celebration of Lear’s 200th anniversary.’ David Attenborough

A spectacular body of work: The majority of the plates are from The Birds of Europe, a vast publication issued in 22 parts between 1832 and 1837. The rest are from subsequent publications by Gould, including a volume devoted to the toucans.

Lear handled this wide range of species with astonishing skill. Whether painting the diminutive tengmalm’s owl, the exotic green araçari or the little egret with its long, elegant neck and delicate plumage, he approached each subject with superb attention to detail. Also remarkable was his ability to capture the idiosyncrasies of each bird, from the defiant tilt of an outsized beak to the solemn glare of a gleaming yellow eye.

In his introduction to this magnificent facsimile, David Attenborough explores the early development of Lear’s artistry, his partnership with Gould, and the innovation and flair that helped to make these bird prints exceptional. Attenborough’s knowledge and enthusiasm make this the perfect introductory text.

An ‘imperial Folio’ edition crafted in the image of the great 19th-century bird books: Meticulously reproducing Attenborough’s original 19th-century binding, this edition captures the elegant aesthetic of the imposing bird books in which Lear’s work originally appeared. Each copy contains a limitation certificate, printed letterpress, and signed by David Attenborough.

Limited to just 780 copies, this is the only published edition to gather together all the prints that Lear created for John Gould.

 

What a wonderful volume!  I remember talking to one of my professors who had graduated from Cambridge and he explained that during the age of enlightenment, a student was expected to be not an artist or a scientist or a mathematician or a philosopher or a musician but rather they were expected to be all of those things.  And all were important as you went about your vocation.  If you were studying birds, you needed to be able to draw them, measure them, describe their song, document their behavior, etc.  All of these skills were employed, working together toward a holistic understanding of any given subject.

Your beautiful book looks to be an example of someone who was educated by that tradition.  Thanks for sharing it!  

[walclark]

This sums up my collecting year:

[Flex Mentallo]

On 12/8/2021 at 12:07 AM, Randall Dowling said:

What a wonderful volume!  I remember talking to one of my professors who had graduated from Cambridge and he explained that during the age of enlightenment, a student was expected to be not an artist or a scientist or a mathematician or a philosopher or a musician but rather they were expected to be all of those things.  And all were important as you went about your vocation.  If you were studying birds, you needed to be able to draw them, measure them, describe their song, document their behavior, etc.  All of these skills were employed, working together toward a holistic understanding of any given subject.

Your beautiful book looks to be an example of someone who was educated by that tradition.  Thanks for sharing it!  

"I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me."

Sir Isaac Newton

[frozentundraguy]

My Golden Age haul for the year.

Detective Comics #236 took a few years to locate.

Strange Adventures #18 was easy to find in low grade and in 9.0, but in between was a different story.

 

An underrated book in my opinion, but suddenly many available after I found this copy.

My best LCS find in quite a while.

 

 

 

A Golden Age book with a cover by Russ Heath.

[GLD]

On 12/4/2021 at 3:02 PM, MrBedrock said:

So many great books, but I think this wins. I love St. John, I almost think this cannot be in private hands........

[MrBedrock]

On 12/8/2021 at 3:24 PM, GLD said:

So many great books, but I think this wins. I love St. John, I almost think this cannot be in private hands........

Thanks. Come to Houston and visit it anytime!

[Polonsky]

My two favorites this year 💀

[buttock]

On 12/9/2021 at 8:22 AM, Polonsky said:

My two favorites this year 💀

Those should make the cut. 

[comicjack]

On 12/9/2021 at 10:22 AM, Polonsky said:

My two favorites this year 💀

Two very popular books nowadays 

[Inaflash]

MIS 1 was my first purchase this year. 

 

[Randall Dowling]

On 12/9/2021 at 8:17 PM, Inaflash said:

MIS 1 was my first purchase this year. 

 

Dang, Ken!  I don't know where you find these but your books are routinely fresh and glossy.  Cool books!!  

[Terry JSA]

On 12/9/2021 at 10:22 AM, Polonsky said:

My two favorites this year 💀

I love that Punch Comics #12, seeing it in an 8.0 is awesome! It’s a pedigree on top that as well, very nice!