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Lot 400

MATHEWS, GREGORY MACALISTER. (1876-1949)
THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA

in 12 volumes accompanied by a supplement
1910-1927, Witherby & Co., London, half Morocco leather bound, with marbled end papers, 565 hand- coloured lithographic plates

Provenance: The Manifold Collection, Victoria, hence by decent Mr George Manifold, Tasmania. Accompanied by correspondence between Robertson & Mullens Ltd, 107-113 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne, addressed to Mr W.T Manifold Esq., Purrumbete, Weerite, Camperdown, dated 12th October, 1922, contained within volume iv. The accompanying text, A List of the Birds of Australia is inscribed W. Manifold 1914 to the inside front cover

Catalogue note: Mathews Gregory Macaslister was born at Merrygoen, New South Wales. He first acquired a love for the Australian bush, and particularly birds, from his father, Robert Hamilton Mathews, who was one of Sydney's pioneer surveyors. Mathews worked for six years on a cattle station in Queensland, observing birds on droving trips, and later became an orchardist in New South Wales. In 1910 Mathews decided to compile an exhaustive work on Australian birds, the twelfth and last volume was published in 1927. During this undertaking sixteen-hour days were spent in research, writing, skin and book-collecting: he bought, exchanged or obtained by hired collectors 30,000 skins and amassed some 5000 books covering every aspect of ornithology
Mathews later offered the library to the Commonwealth Government as a gift, it now resides in the National Library of Australia, and the skins were sold to Lord Rothschild in the 1920s. It is now in the American Museum of Natural History in New York.




Estimate $40,000 - $60,000

Unsold
Asian Art, Classic Furniture & Objects

AUCTION
Sale: LJ8080
12:00pm - 25 October 2015
333 Malvern Rd, South Yarra 3141

VIEWING
21 October 9am-8pm
22-23 October 10am-4pm
24 October 10am-5pm

CONTACT
Chiara Curcio
chiara.curcio@leonardjoel.com.au


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