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a) Hume and Marshal, The Game Birds of India, Burma and Ceylon, Calcutta: A O Hume and C H T Marshall, 1879-1881

Set of 3 Volumes
Volume I: ii; 279 pages including 45 hand-coloured lithographed plates. Published in 1879, this volume is dedicated to ducks, swans and geese
Volume II: 264 pages including 44 hand-coloured lithographed plates. Published in 1880, this volume is dedicated to snipe, bustards and sand-grouse
Volume III: 438 pages including 54 hand-coloured lithographed plates; 4 famous colour egg plates and 6 index pages. Published in 1881 this volume is dedicated to pheasants and bustard-quail
In original green boards with gilt-stamped peacock illustrations on front boards; gilt lettering and ruling on front boards and spines; blind-stamped on rear boards
26.5 x 16.5 x 3.5 cm (each)

One of the classics of ornithology literature and the definitive volumes on the game birds of the Indian subcontinent.

Allan Octavian Hume (1829 - 1912) was a Scottish civil servant and reformer who arrived in India in 1849 and joined the Bengal Civil Service in Etawah, Uttar Pradesh and thereafter, rose steadily in the ranks. After retiring in 1882, he was instrumental in the birth of the Indian National Congress.

In India, Hume embarked on an ambitious project to document the birds of the subcontinent, leading to the largest Asiatic collection of birds housed in his home in Simla. His work led to a publication, and in 1874, he donated his collection of more than 80,000 specimens to London's British Museum (Natural History), which is now the Natural History Museum. Hume also founded a journal titled Stray Feathers, and he is sometimes referred to as the father of Indian ornithology.

The present lot, a set of three volumes, is the second edition of a definitive classic on Indian ornithology edited by Hume and contains superior plates and new material. In the introduction to the first volume, the author states that the present work is essentially a new one since it "adds a considerable amount of matter not obtainable by me when writing in India."

b) Edward Charles Stuart Baker, The Game Birds of India, Burma and Ceylon, London: The Bombay Natural History Society, 1921 - 30

In 3 Volumes
Volume 1: The Game Birds of India, Burma and Ceylon: Ducks and Their Allies (Swans, Geese and Ducks) , London: The Bombay Natural History Society, 1921
xvi, 340 pages including 30 coloured plates by H Gronvold, G E Lodge, and J G Keulemans; bound in quarter leather with cloth boards, gilded top page edges and title along with raised bands on the spine; 26.6 x 17 x 3 cm
Volume 2: The Game Birds of India, Burma and Ceylon: Snipe, Bustards and Sand-Grouse, London: The Bombay Natural History Society, 1921
xvi, 328 pages including 2 coloured maps and 6 black-and-white plates; bound in quarter leather with cloth boards, gilded top page edges and title along with raised bands on the spine; 26.6 x 17 x 3 cm
Volume 3: The Game Birds of India, Burma and Ceylon: Pheasants and Bustards - Quail, London: The Bombay Natural History Society, 1930
x, 341 pages including 11 coloured and 9 black-and-white plates; half dark green cloth simulating the leather of the first two volumes with sides of the same cloth as volumes 1 & 2, spines gilt; 26.6 x 17 x 5 cm

Edward Charles Stuart Baker (1864 - 1944) was British ornithologist and police officer and became known as the foremost authority on the birds. After receiving his education at Trinity College, Stratford-upon-Avon, he enlisted in the Indian Police Service in 1883, like his father. He served in the Assam Police for most of his career in India, attaining the rank of inspector-general and commanding the force. He was assigned to Special Criminal Investigation in 1910. Upon his return to England in 1911, he was appointed Chief Police Officer of the Port of London Police, a role he held until his retirement in 1925.

As an individual who performed admirably in this capacity throughout the First World War, he was bestowed the Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) designation in the 1920 civilian war honors. Upon his retirement, he was elected mayor of Croydon. He devoted his free time to the study and collection of Indian avian species. His literary contributions comprised The Indian Ducks and Their Allies (1908), Game Birds of India and Ceylon (1921), The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma. Birds (1922; eight volumes), Mishmi Man-eater (1928), The Nidification of the Birds of the Indian Empire (1932), and Cuckoo Problems (1942). The cuckoo was his chief interest within ornithology.

A substantial portion of the nearly 50,000 eggs amassed by him was donated to the Natural History Museum, where he devoted considerable effort to the curation of eggs originating from India and Thailand. The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma, in which he contributed eight volumes, rose to become the definitive work on the subject. Approximately 152 specimens from the collection were transferred to the private museum of the Tzar Ferdinand I of Bulgaria. He was also a member of government advisory committees on the preservation of birds and served as honorary secretary and treasurer of the British Ornithologists' Society from 1913 to 1936.

(Set of two)

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