RARE AND UNUSUAL FLY TYING MATERIALS: A NATURAL HISTORY. VOLUME ONE - BIRDS. TREATING BOTH STANDARD AND RARE MATERIALS... By Paul Schmookler and Ingrid V. Sils.

1994 1st edition. Folio (288 x 363mm). Ppxviii,286. Magnificent colour plates and photographs throughout, bibliography. Dark blue cloth, spine titled in gilt.

"..Treating both standard and rare materials, their sources and geography, as used in classic, contemporary, and artistic trout and salmon flies, displayed in photographs, and in the paintings and engravings of history's greatest ornithological and zoological illustrators." "Illustrations of the birds, combining artistic excellence and anatomical accuracy, were chosen from the best examples of the works of the artista of the 18th and 19th centuries... Each magnificent painting is accompanied by a concise natural history of the bird, a description of the plumage used in fly dressing, and a detailed photograph of the feathers. This is accompanied by photographs of antique, classic, contemporary and creative flies, tied by some of the most gifted tiers of the past century." Both volumes are magnificent - the most beautiful modern books on fly-tying, fly-dressing materials and their related art and natural history.