Ornithological Monographs

[Aide Broeckel]

Ornithological Monographs was a publication established by the former AOU for major papers too long for inclusion in the The Auk. Monographs deal with a single topic or multi-faceted study, or symposia papers from recent ornithological meetings. The final issues of Ornithological Monographs were published in 2014.

The abbreviation of the journal title "Ornithological monographs" is "Ornithol. Monogr.". It is the recommended abbreviation to be used for abstracting, indexing and referencing purposes and meets all criteria of the ISO 4 standard for abbreviating names of scientific journals.

ISO 4 abbreviation is a uniform system created by the International Organization for Standardization to abbreviate journal titles in a consistent manner. It serves to facilitate effective communication and reference within the academic community.

Journal title abbreviations include ISO (International Organization for Standardization) for a wide range of subjects, NLM (National Library of Medicine) for biomedical and life sciences, and CASSI (CAS Source Index) for chemistry and related fields.

The American Ornithological Society (AOS) journals, Ornithology and Ornithological Applications, are pleased to announce two new article types: Insights and Monographs.

Insights are invited, short papers (15 pages maximum, inclusive of all content except figures, figure captions, and tables) framed around a high-quality photo, video, audio, computer animation, or illustration of a bird, behavior, species interaction, habitat feature, or other facet of avian biology that represents a natural history discovery likely to inspire new ornithological research. Simple descriptions of new natural history findings, e.g., the first nest of a species or a range extension, are not suitable. The primary graphic or audio must have a caption that gives locality and date information and a concise, non-scientific description of the observation being discussed in the paper; the primary media and caption also serve as the graphical abstract. Submissions must (1) describe how and where the observation was made; (2) the importance of the discovery to our understanding of avian natural history; (3) place the observation in a broader, biological context; and (4) pose novel, broadly applicable hypotheses that can be tested in future research. Authors are encouraged to include a table and/or figure to support the proposed hypotheses.

Monographs are invited papers (60 pages maximum, inclusive of all content except figures, figure captions, and tables) documenting complex studies that cannot be presented effectively in a standard-length Research Article. Large datasets or long-term studies alone do not warrant consideration of a manuscript as a Monograph.

Earlier this year, when the online book marketplace AbeBooks released a list of the most expensive books it sold in 2015, topping the list was an 18th century Italian tome with a long-winded title: Storia naturale degli uccelli trattata con metodo e adornata di figure intagliate in rame e miniate al naturale. Ornithologia methodice digesta atque iconibus aeneis ad vivum illuminatis. Or, as it's known in English: A Natural History of Birds. The book, which was written by Saverio Manetti and illustrated by Violante Vanni and Lorenzo Lorenzi, sold for $191,000, setting a world record for the priciest online book sale. Spending nearly $200K on a book about birds (or anything, really) may strike some people as excessive, but as it turns out rare ornithological texts are consistently some of the most expensive books around. Here are a few of the priciest ones:

Reluctant to shell out a few years worth of college tuition for a single book? On the more reasonably-priced side of rare collectibles, an eagle-eyed investor can usually snag a copy of Ootheca wolleyana: an illustrated catalogue of the collection of birds' eggs formed by the late John Wolley (1864) at auction for around $2,000. For about half that amount (depending on condition), one could purchase The Ornithology of the Straits of Gibraltar (1875) by Lieut-Col. Leonard Howard Lloyd Irby.

And for those with a little less to spend, a pristine first-edition dust cover copy of the 1953 Ladybird classic Cocky the Lazy Rooster, written by Noel Barr and charmingly illustrated by Percy Bell Hickling, can usually be had for less than $50. It may never be worth $10 million, but you should probably refrain from using it to wallpaper your living room anyway.

Three of the world's greatest ornithological books are now assembled at Arader Galleries in New York City. This gathering spans the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries telling the story of European and American obsession with finding and illustrating new and exotic species as colonial supremacy.

The collection's timeline begins in the seventeenth century in the Netherlands during the hieght of the Dutch East India Company withPieter Holsteyn'sAves aquatiles advivum eleganterwhich is thefirst compilation of ornithological drawing depicting bird species from all six continents.

The 168 paintings depict 81 species and another 30 hybrids and avicultural varieties. The wild birds include many native to the Netherlands and a wide range of species from other hemispheres where the Dutch had established colonies and trading posts. The portraits of avicultural varieties reveal an interest in experimentation in hybridizing different wild birds, especially ducks, and selecting unusual features in parrots and barnyard fowl.

In the eighteenth-century, America became the most exotic destination in the world. Mark Catesby and William Bartram were progenitors of this nation's earliest natural history imagery. Arriving in the states this week is the Peter Collinson collection of Mark Catesby's extra-illustratedNatural Historyand portfolio of original watercolors by Catesby, William Bartram, George Edwards, and Georg Ehret. It is an extraordinary grouping that has been in the hands of the Earls of Derby at Knowsley since the mid-nineteenth century. Included are eleven Mark Catesby watercolors, none have been available since the eighteenth century, fifty-one William Bartram watercolors, no original work by this artist has been offered since 1842, and significant watercolors grouping by Georg Ehret and George Edwards.

Together it is widely considered one of the most important archives relating to this circle of collectors, natural historians, artists, and garden owners in London during the first half of the 18th-century.

While America rose to prominence in learned naturalists' circles, the lure of brightly colored and yet to be described exotics in Africa also reigned supreme. Johannes Gerard Keulemans was one of the foremost ornithological illustrators of the nineteenth-century. Dutch by origin, he was part of a select band of continental European bird and animal artists attracted to England during the middle and latter half of the nineteenth century.

You can review these masterpieces of ornithology here on our website, however, the luminosity of each feather and gloss of every eye can never be captured in pixels. The true majesty of these works is revealed by seeing them in person. We are excited to invite you to view these masterpieces by appointment at our townhouse at 1016 Madison Avenue at any time that may be convenient for you. Please contact us to make a time to come by; we look forward to seeing you.

Barraband's image effortlessly captures the exotic beauty of one of the most spectacular of all Birds of Paradise.

The technical brilliance of the colour-printing used in the production of this print ably captures the precision and beauty of Barraband's watercolour and gouache originals. Jacques Barraband was the finest ornithological artist of his time. The son of a weaver at the Aubusson Factory, he is first mentioned as a pupil of Joseph Malaine (1745-1809), the eminent flower painter, and is known to have worked for both the Gobelin Factory and the porcelain factory of Svres. His most important work was undoubtedly the 300 or so drawings that he produced for Franois Levaillant's three great ornithological monographs, the most spectacular of which was the Histoire naturelle des oiseaux de paradis et des rolliers... (Paris, [1801]-06). The Astrapia is a Bird of Paradise that inhabits the Vogelkop Peninsula of West Papua, Indonesia.

Cf. Anker 304; cf. Brunet III.1033; cf.Fine Bird Books (1990), p.118; cf. Nissen IVB 559; cf. Ronsil, p. 298; cf. Wood, p. 434; cf. Zimmer, p. 393. Item #28452

Franois Nicolas Martinet engraved illustrations of birds for books by some of the most influential ornithologists in 18th-century France. Born in 1731, Martinet was trained as an engineer and draftsman. Engraving illustrations for books probably began as a secondary profession, but as his popularity and output grew it must have consumed the majority of his time. Martinet's son Alexandre eventually assisted him and made many engravings, as is known from signatures and dates on the prints. Martinet also had two sisters, Anglique and Marie Thrse, who were engravers as well, but it is not known if they worked with him. Towards the end of his career, Martinet drew upon his experience in engraving birds for others to publish his own ornithology books, producing plates until his death sometime in the late 1780s or early 1790s (sources disagree on the year).

Under these circumstances it is not surprising that illustrations in books up to this period commonly showed birds motionless on a rock or stump, perching on a bare branch, or standing by a lake or stream, serving the simple purpose of presenting the species for description and classification. In his work for others and even by and large in his own publications, Martinet must have had no choice but to conform to these conventions, but in the latter he incorporated a fuller artistic element in his illustrations when the opportunity arose, showing birds on the roofs of French chateaux or city buildings, swimming in ponds, perched on a crag overlooking ships sailing on the sea, in farmyards or at bird-feeders, and even - for those birds that had become popular as pets - in cages in domestic interiors.

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