Portraits of Rare and Curious Birds, with their Descriptions, from the Menageryof Osterley Park.

London: Bulmer & Co., published for the author by R. Faulder, 1794 [-1799]. 2 volumes in one 4to (295 x 235 mm), Contemporary polished tan calf gilt, rebacked, with 100 lightly engraved plates, finely coloured in gouache and enhanced with gum arabic by William and Matilda Hayes , including 15 signed by Hayes and other family members, 2 with handwritten Agenda and 9 with the handwritten date 1794, without the menagerie plate as usual, Manuscript index at the end of the second volume.

A FINE COPY OF THE ONLY EDITION OF THIS FINE PUBLICATION commissioned by Robert Child, owner of Osterley Park where he kept a menagerie of domestic and exotic birds. This copy has the title and dedication to the second volume, some plates with the watermark “Whatman 1794″.

” Hayes was the first author to systematically record a single private collection of live birds; such a project was not attempted again until 1846″ (Jackson, Bird Etchings, p. 135). In his introduction, Hayes indicates that the illustrations were made by many members of his family.

Sitwell 105; Nissen IVB, 422; Wood, p. 381 and Zimmer, p. 294 (both without the second title and without the frontispiece).