A Natural History of American Birds of Eastern and Central North America, Forbush, May, Illustrated Hardcover

A Natural History of American Birds of Eastern and Central North America by Edward Howe Forbush, revised and abridged by John Bichard May, is a Bramhall House illustrated hardcover, likely from the 1950s to 1960s.

The reading pages and color illustrations remain clean, while the dust jacket has extensive tears, creases, and missing pieces clearly shown in the photos.

This reference explores bird identification, habits, breeding, and range, with the title page crediting ninety-six full color illustrations to Louis Agassiz Fuertes, Allan Brooks, and Roger Tory Peterson.

Details

• Item: Illustrated bird reference book
• Title: A Natural History of American Birds of Eastern and Central North America
• Author: Edward Howe Forbush; revised and abridged with the addition of more than one hundred species by John Bichard May
• Illustrator: Louis Agassiz Fuertes, Allan Brooks, and Roger Tory Peterson
• Publisher: Bramhall House, New York, a division of Clarkson N. Potter, Inc.
• Publication Year: Likely 1950s to 1960s; latest copyright date shown is 1955
• Edition and Printing: Revised and abridged edition with more than one hundred additional species; Bramhall House reprint by arrangement with Houghton Mifflin Company; copyright page carries the code (B)
• Format and Binding: Hardcover in green cloth with an impressed front cover title
• Dust Jacket: Present, with extensive wear, tears, and losses
• Pages: 554
• Genre: Natural history, ornithology, and bird reference
• Language: English
• ISBN: None
• Dimensions: Approximately 12 by 7 by 1.5 inches

Condition Grade: Good

Positives

• Graded Good: The book remains a usable illustrated reference; the dust jacket is substantially more worn than the interior.
• Reading pages are clean and legible, with no writing, underlining, cuts, rips, or tears found during inspection.
• The photographed color plates retain clear detail and strong color, with bird names and identification keys printed beside the illustrations.
• The plate spread shown includes scoters, a ruddy duck, and geese in waterside settings.
• Green cloth boards retain their impressed title and remain attached to the text block.
• The dust jacket retains its illustrated front panel, readable title, and author and artist credits despite the edge losses.

Issues / Wear

• The dust jacket has extensive edge tears, chips, missing pieces, creases, and fraying around the spine ends, corners, and panel edges.
• The lower front jacket panel is torn and curled, with losses affecting portions of the printed artist credits.
• The jacket back panel has surface soil, scattered spots, thin reddish marks, and a narrow yellowish stain toward the bottom.
• Larger jacket losses along the back fold and bottom edge expose the green binding beneath.
• Outer page edges are darkened and toned, with scattered spotting visible in the closed-book views.

Find more like this in our Vintage Nature & Field Guides collection.

The named bird illustrations and detailed species accounts give a bird reader plenty to study, and the color plates offer display possibilities for someone choosing prints to frame. If it's the right copy for you, it's ready to come home.