RARE AND UNUSUAL FLY TYING MATERIALS: A NATURAL HISTORY. VOLUME TWO - BIRDS AND MAMMALS. By Paul Schmookler and Ingrid V. Sils.

1997 1st edition. Folio (288 x 363mm). Pp xxiv,347. 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." The second volume deals with a few more bird species, and with mammals. It also includes a detailed section on the history of breeding game fowl for hackles, a chapter on modern hackle production in the USA, and a history and discussion of silks and tinsels for fly-tying. Both volumes are magnificent - the most beautiful modern books on fly-tying, fly-dressing materials and their related art and natural history.