lamdha books -
Catalogue of books on Australian animals

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92489 Archer, Michael (ed.) Possums & Opossums - Two Volumes Studies in Evolution Surrey Beatty & Sons with the Royal Zoological Society of NSW, Chipping Norton NSW, 1987. Two quarto hardcover volumes; green boards with gilt upper board and spine titling, green decorated endpapers; 788pp., colour plates, monochrome illustrations, charts and diagrams. Minor wear; one or two spots on upper edges of prelims and upper text block edges; some spotting to side edges of volume 2; dustwrapper spines slightly faded. Very good to near fine otherwise and wrappers now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. More than 50 contributions by 38 American and Australian authors describe all of the Australian diprotodont marsupials as well as a major focus on the fossil record of these and the early Cainozoic American marsupials. The book is extensively illustrated with many hundreds of photographic images including 11 full page colour reconstructions of prehistoric marsupials. The introductory chapter summarises, integrates and develops all of the contributions in the volumes as an overview. There is also a complete taxonomic index. Click here to order $120

86965 Boles, Walter E. The Robins & Flycatchers of Australia Angus & Robertson, North Ryde NSW, 1988. Quarto; hardcover; 508pp., with many colour illustrations. Minor wear; a few internal marks and spots. Otherwise very good to near fine in like dustwrapper. Inhabitants, for the most part, of woods and forests, these birds, widely known as robins, flycatchers and monarchs, are largely insectivorous and arboreal, though many robins forage on the ground. Although a few, such as the thrushes, are introduced, the majority of species are native and represent a cluster of families that, according to recent studies, appear to have their origins in Australia. Lucid, informative narratives introduce each species group, while synopses present a summary of fascinating details about such aspects as habitat, breeding and world distribution. Fine colour photographs portray the biology of each species - its behaviour, nest, eggs, young, appearance at rest and in flight and its various plumages. Click here to order $100

204717 Cayley, Neville W. The Fairy Wrens of Australia Blue Birds of Happiness Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1949. Hardcover, quarto; blue boards with upper board and spine gilt titling; 88pp., monochrome and colour plates, top edges dyed blue, coloured bird decoration on title page. Minor wear; spotting to text block edges; slightly worn and frayed board corners and edges. Well-rubbed yellow illustrated dustwrapper with slight discolouration along front fore-edge; tiny missing segment on upper front edge and some scraping and chipping to spine panel extremities. Very good and wrapper now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film with white paper backing. Click here to order $75

35771 Clode, Danielle Continent of Curiosities A Journey Through Australian Natural History Cambridge University Press, Melbourne Vic., 2006 Quarto; hardcover, with gilt spine titles; 212pp., with many monochrome illustrations. Mild wear. Dustwrapper slightly edgeworn; now professionally protected by non-adhesive polypropylene film. An eclectic path through the history of biological science from an Australian perspective, with insights into the people and places that influence the way we see and understand the natural world around us. Click here to order $25

77417 Common, L.E.B., & D.E. Waterhouse Butterflies of Australia - revised edition Australian Natural Science Library Angus & Robertson Publishers, Sydney, NSW, Australia, 1981. Octavo; hardcover, with silver-gilt spine-title, turquoise endpapers; 682pp., with 47pp. of full-colour and half-tone plates, and many more line drawings and diagrams. Owner's name. Text block edges toned and spotted. Dustwrapper is very mildly edgeworn and slightly faded towards the lower edge (now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film). Very good. Click here to order $40

201062 Conder, Pamela With Wings on their Fingers An Intimate View of the Flying-fox Angus & Robertson, Sydney NSW, 1994. Small quarto hardcover, 168pp., monochrome and colour illustrations. Mild wear; slightly cocked; spine extremities lightly softened; toned page and text block edges; some stains along the board bottom edges. Lightly worn dustwrapper. Very good. Click here to order $18

92475 D'abrera, Bernard Butterflies of the Australian Region Lansdowne Press, Melbourne Vic., 1971. Quarto hardcover, with gilt spine titling; 415pp., with many colour illustrations. Minor wear; board corners slightly worn; one or two spots and marks on text block edges; previous owner's bookplate tipped in. Dustwrapper with slightly faded spine; a small scrape to the spine panel head; now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Near fine. In 1971, this was the first major work on the subject of Australasian lepidoptera in over 50 years, covering Australia, Papua and New Guinea, the Moluccas, New Zealand and the islands of the South Pacific. All the major butterfly species within the region are described, and illustrated by over 3,000 natural size colour photographs showing, where necessary, recto and verso views and sexually dimorphic and seasonal forms. The descriptions include locality references, cross-references to previous studies, and notes on larval and pupal stages and food plants. A substantial introductory section covers the anatomy, biology, life cycle and habitat of butterflies, together with an outline of classification, nomenclature and the history of the collection. Click here to order $220

92359 Dixon, Joan M & Linda Huxley (eds.; Donald Thomson, photo.) Donald Thomson's Mammals and Fishes of Northern Australia Thomas Nelson, Melbourne, 1985. Quarto hardcover; brown boards with gilt spine titling; orange endpapers; 210pp., monochrome illustrations. Minor wear; slightly worn lower board edges and corners; foxing to endpapers, prelims, half-title page and upper text block edges. Slightly rubbed illustrated dustwrapper with some scattered spotting to rear panel and mildly faded spine panel. Very good with wrapper now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. This collection of Donald Thomson's original black and white plates, taken in the harsh conditions of northern Australia, shows a remarkable diversity of Australian fauna and their habitats, as well as images of the native inhabitants of the north. The text includes notes from diaries and records which Thomson kept on his travels as well as details of individual animals in his collection meticulously edited and annotated by Joan Dixon and Linda Huxley. Each species covered includes original notes by Thomson, locality map, comments by the authors and where possible, an identification photo and measurement table. Click here to order $30

92490 Grigg, Gordon & Peter Jarman & Ian Hume (eds.) Kangaroos, Wallabies and Rat-Kangaroos - two volumes Surrey Beatty & Sons, Chipping Norton, 1989. Two quarto hardcover volumes; brown boards with gilt upper board and spine titling, yellow endpapers; 835pp., colour and monochrome illustrations. Minor wear; a few spots on endpapers and prelims; spotting to upper text block edges. Very good to near fine otherwise in like dustwrappers now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. "Some fifty thousand years after the discovery of kangaroos by the first human inhabitants of Australia, three hundred and sixty years after the first written observations on their mode of generation and thirty years after the formation of the Australian Mammal Society, by a group of hopefuls on a field excursion to Portee Station, it is appropriate to hold a meeting to find what is known about kangaroos and their allies." This is the opening address of the meeting to which G.B. Sharman alludes, and the book is the result of that meeting. There are about fifty Australian species of kangaroos, wallabies and rat-kangaroos collectively grouped in the family Macropodoidea. The two day symposium in 1988 assembled a wide range of interest from conservationists, researchers, teachers, zoologists, animal behaviourists and biologists. Many have contributed papers on all aspects of Macropodoidea life. Click here to order $120

215582 Heatwole, Harold Sea Snakes NSW University Press, Sydney, 1987. Octavo paperback; 85pp., b&w illustrations, diagrams and maps. Foxing to cover verso and early pages; spotting to text block edges; rubbed covers with wear to edges. Distributor's stamp on front endpaper. Good to very good. Click here to order $30

94608 Hollands, David Kingfishers & Kookaburras: Jewels of the Australian Bush Reed New Holland, Sydney, 1999. Quarto hardcover; illustrated boards; 132pp., colour illustrations. Very mild spotting to upper text block edges and lightly rubbed dustwrapper. Very good to near fine. Vibrant in colour, conspicuous in activity and often inescapably raucous! Kingfishers and kookaburras are a versatile group. Their colours range across the spectrum. They have adapted to rivers and deserts, to wet rainforests and dry woodlands, to mangrove swamps and islands. They catch lizards, snakes and spiders on the ground, dive underwater for fish, snatch frogs in the tree canopy and take insects in full flight. Each of the ten Australian species has its own remarkably different story, brought to life in this book in a most personal way that highlights their unique traits and individual personalities. Each essay is accompanied by outstanding photographic plates many capturing moments of flight frozen in midair. A practical field guide section is also included. Click here to order $45

84199 [John Gould] Datta, Ann John Gould in Australia Letters and drawings The Miegunyah Press/Melbourne University Press, Carlton South, Vic., Australia. 1997. Quarto; hardcover, with gilt spine titling; 502pp., with many monochrome and full-colour illustrations. Mild spotting of the text block top edge; some softening of the spine heel; old security tag on the last page. Dustwrapper now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Fine. In 1838 John Gould and his artist wife Elizabeth arrived in Australia to spend nineteen months studying and recording the natural history of the continent. By the time they left Gould had not only recorded most of Australia's known birds and collected information on nearly 200 new species, he had also gathered data for a major contribution to the study of Australian mammals. In connection with his work in Australia Gould amassed a voluminous correspondence which is today housed in The Natural History Museum, London. This collection of more than 3000 items is of immense importance for the light it throws on Gould's working methods and for its historical value to Australian ornithology. A selection from these letters is presented here, together with a catalogue containing detailed summaries of the contents of every item. Click here to order $250

205680 [John Gould] Gould F.R.S., John The Birds of Australia - eight volumes Lansdowne Press, Melbourne Vic., 1972-1975. Facsimile reprint: eight volumes, folio; hardcover, full publisher's vinyl with gilt spine titles and board and spine decorations with decorative endpapers; unpaginated (1,554pp. [212pp. + 220pp. + 200pp. + 214pp. + 190pp. + 170pp. + 178pp. + 170pp.]), top edges dyed brown, with 686 colour plates. Minor wear. Some wrinkling, tears and edgewear to the protective Mylar wrappers. Near fine. With the obsession of a collector and an eye for artistic talent, John Gould succeeded in creating one of the most recognisable and long-lasting brand names in natural history. Gould is best remembered for his folio volumes of superb colour-plate illustrations of birds. In all, 2999 unique images were produced for these publications, many were the first illustrations of previously unknown species. This extraordinary output was the result of Gould's drive and business acumen as well as an ability to develop a strong international group of specimen collectors, artists and administrative agents. Gould relied on his group of dedicated artists, lithographers and colourers to translate his preparatory sketches into finished illustrations. Only 250 copies were made of the original seven-volume set and these were accompanied by a further eighth supplemental volume in later years. This Lansdowne Press facsimile edition, compiled between the years 1972 to 1975, is a more affordable version of the publication, although it too is starting to become increasingly rare. Click here to order $3000

30797 [John Gould] Gould, John (Joan M. Dixon, ed.) Kangaroos Macmillan, South Melbourne Vic., 1973. Folio hardcover in slipcase; black cloth boards with gold and white upper board and spine titling with kangaroo illustration on front, black endpapers; 152pp., numerous colour illustrations. Minor wear; a few small scrapes at board corners and mild spotting to text block edges; one or two scattered spots on upper edges of title page and prelim. Light rubbing to matching slipcase with a few scrapes and spots. Very good to near fine otherwise. "When British zoologist John Gould published three volumes on Australian mammals 150 years ago, Victorian England went wild for his work. The work of famed zoologist and illustrator John Gould goes some way to explaining why Australia has lost so many of its native animals. Of all the animals Gould encountered in Australia, the kangaroo captivated his attention more than any other. Modern-day zoologist Fred Ford says that Gould thought kangaroos were a zoological marvel that typified Australia. 'He also liked the way they tasted,' says [zoologist, Fred] Ford." - Radio National Click here to order $50

54538 Lindsey, Terence L. The Seabirds of Australia The National Photographic Index of Australian Wildlife Angus & Robertson, North Ryde, 1986. Quarto hardcover; black boards with grey upper board and spine titling, black endpapers; 518pp., colour illustrations. Inscription. Minor wear; board edges and corners worn and frayed, corners bumped; mild spotting to upper text block edges. Illustrated dustwrapper with wear to spine panel extremities with some tiny scrapes, upper rear corner creased. Very good to near fine otherwise and wrapper now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. This is the seabirds volume from the magnificent National Photographic Index of Australian Wildlife series published in association with the Australian Museum. An utterly incomparable project now completed, and this volume is one of its crown jewels. A superb photographic record of our seabirds, with concise but extensive information covering the ninety species of birds that inhabit the seas around Australia. Written by esteemed ornithologist Terence Lindsay, this volume provides an intimate glimpse of some of the least well-known yet fascinating of Australia's birds. Highly readable narratives describe the lifestyle and history of each species, while synopses of technical data provide invaluable information on habitat, nest, diet, and so on. But it is the extraordinary collection of photographs that perhaps stands as its most potent feature. An amazing publication feat. Click here to order $130

57208 McCubbin, Charles Australian Butterflies Thomas Nelson, Melbourne Vic., 1971. Folio; hardcover, with gilt spine titling; 206pp., many colour and monochrome illustrations. Minor wear; upper board edges with tiny perforations and tiny missing segment; faint spotting to text block edges. A few scattered spots on white illustrated dustwrapper; now professionally protected by a Mylar wrapper. Very good to near fine. A superb production that despite being published forty years ago is as beautiful and relevant as ever. The central jewel of this large format book is its many colour paintings. With the artist being a grandson of the great Fred McCubbin, it is hardly surprising. Beautifully designed with the colour plates filling nearly all pages, it is accompanied by a thorough text that deals with the taxonomy, classification and life-histories of the butterflies. But the exquisite detail with which the paintings are executed give to the 357 species of butterflies chosen a luminous appeal. Each painting is a cameo in natural history evoking a mood and a region, picturing a habitat and illustrating a food-plant. Click here to order $60

91870 Menkhorst, Peter & Frank Knight A Field Guide to the Mammals of Australia - signed copy Oxford University Press, 2001. Octavo softcover; illustrated vinyl covers, map endpapers; 269pp., colour and monochrome illustrations and diagrams. A few faint spots on upper text block edges; slight wear to upper edges of dustwrapper. Near fine otherwise. Signed in ink by both authors. Click here to order $35

63506 Moyal, Ann Platypus The Extraordinary Story of How a Curious Creature Baffled the World Allen & Unwin, Crow's Nest NSW, 2001. Octavo; hardcover, with gilt spine titles and endpapers maps; 226pp., with many monochrome illustrations. Minor wear; faint spotting to text block upper edge. Near fine in like dustwrapper. This is the enigmatic story of a biological riddle that confounded scientists for nearly ninety years, challenging theories of creationism, evolution and the classification of species along the way. Secretive, elusive and beguiling, the platypus has continued to captivate public and scientific attention to the present day. Ann Moyal's elegantly concise study dwells on all aspects of this utterly remarkable creature. Click here to order $20

89169 Nikulinsky, Philippa, & Stephen D. Hopper Soul of the Desert Fremantle Arts Centre Press, Fremantle WA, 2005. First edition. Quarto hardcover; dark red boards with gilt lower board and spine titling, dark red endpapers; 183pp., colour illustrations; bibliography and index. Minor wear only; mild rubbing to board corners and dustwrapper very slightly faded along spine. Fine and wrapper now covered in protective film with white paper backing. "The Soul is there in the dust, the red rocks and blue sky, the wind and rain, in the dunes and salt-lakes, in the people, and in the plant and animal life, waiting to be experienced, revealed, revered, by those who would look." Stephen D Hopper. In the tradition of botanical artists Marianne North and Rowan Ellis, Philippa Nikulinsky's exquisite paintings capture the natural wonder and diversity of the Australian desert. The perfect book for anyone interested in botanical art, natural history or fauna and wildflowers. Click here to order $70

76788 North, Alfred J. Nests and Eggs of Birds Found Breeding in Australia and Tasmania Volume One Oxford University Press, Melbourne Vic., 1984. Quarto; hardcover, with gilt spine titles; 366pp., with many monochrome illustrations. Moderate wear; boards discoloured and wear to edges and corners. Light pink discolouration to rear panel of dustwrapper; minor edgewear; now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Very good. This is one of the great works of Australian ornithology. Publication of the first volume, known as the Australian Museum special Catalogue, began in 1901 and was completed in 1904. Another three volumes appeared in the next ten years. It was immediately acclaimed as a major achievement, one reviewer describing it as 'really more of a life history of our 'birds' than a catalogue on nests and eggs, and it has remained a much-loved and invaluable document for ornithologists, amateur and professional, ever since. North, who was virtually Australia's only professional ornithologist at the turn of the century, endeavoured to present detailed information on the eggs, nests and breeding habits of all Australian birds. In this facsimile edition Walter Boles testifies in the foreword that 'Most of North's information is still valid... it has been supplemented but rarely replaced". Click here to order $60

77667 Olsen, Penny (Humphrey Price-Jones, et al., illus.) Australian Birds of Prey The Biology and Ecology of Raptors UNSW Press, Sydney NSW, 1995. Quarto; hardcover, with illustrated endpapers; 256pp., with maps, diagrams and many monochrome and colour illustrations. Minor wear; mild softening of the spine heel; a bump to the bottom corner of the lower board. Dustwrapper lightly rubbed and edgeworn. Very good to near fine. This book describes the ecology, predation, reproduction, behaviour, health, interactions with humans, conservation issues and the care of sick and captive birds. All twenty-four Australian raptors are included accompanied by more than 300 diagrams, drawings and illustrations of these birds. Click here to order $50

92133 Rentz, David Grasshopper Country The Abundant Orthopteroid Insects of Australia UNSW Press, Sydney NSW, 1996. Octavo; hardcover, with endpaper maps; 284pp., with many colour plates and monochrome illustrations. Minor wear; a few tiny chips at corners and mild spotting to text block edges; previous owner's name. Dustwrapper now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Very good to near fine. Murray Upton said of Australia in 1978 "Australia is grasshopper country, but there is no way to identify them". Taking these words as a challenge, David Rentz has compiled this guide to identifying all of Australia's orthopteroid insects. This minutely-researched work covers all grasshoppers, katydids, mantids, leaf and stick insects and cockroaches which populate the Bush and our cities. An essential guide for the serious researcher. Click here to order $80

48204 Roughley, T.C. Fish and Fisheries of Australia Angus & Robertson,Sydney, 1961. Revised and enlarged edition. Quarto hardcover; green boards with gilt spine titling and map endpapers; xv + 343pp. with 60 colour plates and 21 plates in black and white. Minor wear; foxing to endpapers, prelims and title page with browning and mild spotting to text block edges. Tears and tape stains to lower rear panel of dustwrapper; tiny missing segments on extremities of spine panel and some tiny chips especially at corners. Good to very good with wrapper now protected in archival film and white paper backing. Click here to order $40

69903 Roughley, T.C. Oyster Culture on the George's River New South Wales Technical Education Series, No. 25 Technological Museum, Sydney NSW, 1922. Quarto hardcover, 69pp., monochrome illustrations. Red cloth boards with gilt lettering and front board slightly bowed. Else excellent copy. Important and historical study initiated by the Development and Migration Commission. Click here to order $50

54537 Serventy, Vincent N (Senior ed.) The Waterbirds of Australia The National Photographic Index of Australian Wildlife Angus & Robertson, North Ryde, 1985. Quarto hardcover; black boards with gray upper board and spine titling, black endpapers; 331pp., colour plates. Mild rubbing to board corners and slight wear to dustwrapper edges. Otherwise minor wear only; near fine in like dustwrapper now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Most waterbirds are large and conspicuous though some are rare and obscure. Few sights in nature are more spectacular than a vast ibis rookery in the Riverina, or whistling-ducks in dense camps of thousands in remote tropical swamps of the Top End, black swans congregating in huge flocks on extensive lakes, or grebes courting in some quiet backwater of a cumbungi swamp. Sadly, many waterbirds are threatened by loss of habitat, as vast areas of wetlands continue to be drained, polluted or otherwise altered for irrigation, flood control, urban development and sport. The Waterbirds of Australia, while providing serious and comprehensive reference, also captures the variety and elegance of these splendid birds. Technical data - identification of species, habitat, nest, diet and so on are set out separately, together with a distribution map, while John Douglas Pringle, from a mass of records and scientific reports has distilled eminently readable accounts of the way of life and history of each of the waterbirds described here. Click here to order $120

99555 Waite, Edgar R. (Introduction by Michael J. Tyler & Mark Hutchinson) The Reptiles and Amphibians of South Australia Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, Oxford OH, 1993. Octavo; hardcover; 275pp., with a colour frontispiece and many monochrome illustrations. No dustwrapper as issued. Remainder. New. Facsimile reprint of the first edition, from a limited print run of only 500 copies. This important edition of the classic work by Edgar R. Waite was issued by special arrangement with the Second World Congress of Herpetology and the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles. Waite's book remains the only complete treatment of the herpetofauna of any Australian state. It was a significant and extremely ambitious publication of international quality that was produced for a limited, local readership; it is a valuable reference book even today. It includes a new introduction by Michael H. Tyler, University of Adelaide, and Mark Hutchinson, South Australian Museum, as well as a listing of Waite's scientific names and the current nomenclature for definition. This work contains 192 text figures, including numerous black and white photographs and a colour plate of Waite's 1893 original watercolour drawing, 'Illustrations of Frogs.' Click here to order $40

64513 White, Mary E. The Nature of Hidden Worlds Animals and Plants in Prehistoric Australia and New Zealand Reed, Balgowlah NSW, 1990. Quarto hardcover; green boards with white spine titling and green endpapers; 256pp., colour illustrations. Minor wear; mild scraping to board corners and one or two faint spots on upper text block edge. Near fine otherwise in like dustwrapper now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. "The Nature of Hidden Worlds" takes us on a journey through time, recreating the ancient environments and telling us about the animals and plants that lived in Australia and New Zealand long, long ago. It traces the evolution of living things from the first green cells that nearly four billion years ago predetermined the path that evolution would take by creating an oxygenated atmosphere, through all the stages up to the present. The dynamic world forms a background to the procession of animals that came in their turn and went when their time ran out. The messages about change and extinction that we read in the rocks apply to us in our modern world. Because of our technology and the plague numbers of people that now crowd the earth, there is no time for species to adapt, so extinction is inevitable. Click here to order $35

33536 Younger, R.M. Kangaroo: Images through the Ages Hutchinson Australia, 1988. Hardcover quarto; pink boards with gilt spine titling, and pink endpapers; 247pp., numerous colour and monochrome illustrations. Minor wear; a few tiny scrapes on board corners and edges and mild spotting to upper text block edges. Very good to near fine in like, slightly rubbed dustwrapper with minimal wear to edges. Wrapper now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. This book concentrates on the visual record of the kangaroo - from cave wall to political cartoon, from zoological sketch or study to zany commercial motif. The book charts the steady growth of knowledge about the strange creatures that intrigued the public for so long, and traces its unfolding career as a scientific riddle, an exotic curiosity, a national symbol and inevitably an eye-catching focus for advertising and promotion. It deals also with the kangaroo's place in the cosmography of animals and with the Australian projection of the kangaroo in a patriotic context. Moreover, the story is of those who captured or enlisted the aura of the kangaroo image. Cook, Banks, Stubbs, Shaw, Cuvier, Lear, Gould; a plethora of engravers, numerous encyclopaedists, various meticulous recorders, the propagandists and image-moulders of recent times all have a say if they have contributed to the legend or the iconography. Click here to order $30