Author: Mivart, St. George
Title: A monograph of the lories, or brush-tongued parrots, composing the family Loriidae
Description: London: R. H. Porter, 1896. First edition. Pp. i-liii, (1), 1-193; 61 fine hand-colored lithographic plates after and by J. G. Keulemans, 4 lithographed maps that are partially printed in color, 19 monochrome text-figures.  Brown fine-weave cloth, lettered in gilt on the spine, top page-edge in gilt, lg 4to (12.5 x 10.25 inches).  This is the first edition, first issue of this beautiful monograph.  Lories and lorikeets (tribe Loriini) are small to medium-sized arboreal parrots characterized by their specialized brush-tipped tongues for feeding on nectar of various blossoms and soft fruits, preferably berries.  The species form a monophyletic group within the parrot family Psittacidae.  They are widely distributed throughout the Australasian region, including southeastern Asia, Polynesia, Papua New Guinea, Timor Leste and Australia (after Wiki).  Mivart was attracted to these parrots by their suitability for domestication as well as their remarkable coloring; his monograph depicted and described 16 new species for the first time.  Three of the maps show distribution of the genera of lories while the fourth provides a larger-scale view of the islands between the Celebes and New Guinea (modified after Sotheby's Library of H. Bradley Martin - Magnificent Color Plate Ornithology, 166).  Mivart (1827-1900) was a master of anatomical detail which is revealed in this well-illustrated volume.  The 61 magnificent hand-colored lithographs are after painting by J. G. Keulemans (1842-1912), the leading bird illustrator of the 19th century.  See also Ayer/Zimmer 439; Keulemans 64; Nissen, IVB 640; Nissen SVB 350, McGill/Wood 408; and Fine Bird Books (1990) 125. Two small wrinkles to the outer corners of the title page professionally repaired, outer edge of plates 29, 38, 49 and bottom edge of plate 42 have been professionally restored where there was once light chipping, a tight, bright and clean copy in very good condition in a very attractive binding..

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