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William Cooper's Pigeons and Doves of Australia (1 Viewer)

There's already a post in the book section about this upcoming monograph, but since it has so much to do with art I thought you would appreciate a link in this forum too: http://www.vimeo.com/33327840

Definitely one of the greatest art books I can think of. Thus worth mentioning here as well. I find that video you linked to absolutely stunning.

It's apparently going to be Cooper's last book on birds. A shame, but I can see that even the most exciting thing can become routine at some point, thus making one long for a change.
 
thanks for this, never seen him before....what a inspiration, a stunning set of work, I will certainly look for his books in the future...mark
 
Mark - should check out his Birds of Paradise monograph. Paintings are very nice, but the pencil drawings showing the displays, etc in the text are absolutely excellent
Also, his book 'Capturing the Essence' is really very good too
 
Mark - should check out his Birds of Paradise monograph. Paintings are very nice, but the pencil drawings showing the displays, etc in the text are absolutely excellent
.....

I have two giant books of his Kingfishers and Related Birds series. Found them finally at a relatively affordable price. Probably because there is a very slight musty odor to them; I assume from having been stored under somewhat too humid conditions. Great books for me, nevertheless. But I still think the Birds of Paradise book is his greatest achievement. The attention to details, including the surroundings is simply mindblowing. But also the printing itself is superb, probably with more colors than what was used for the Kingfishers series. Judging from the originals shown in the video, the Pigeons and Doves book would seem to match or even surpass the Birds of Paradise. But then, as original paintings will go for horrendous prices, I'll wait with my final assessment till I have seen how well the book is "capturing the essence" ;) of the originals. And that includes those iridescent parts.
 
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I've always regretted parting with his B of P book which I bought a long time ago and sold when skint.

Actually, Cooper's plates for the Turacos book are pretty much as good as the ones for the B of P book. Definitely much better than the "Kingfishers" series. The printing is superb as well. But the book is only half the size of the B of P one. Thus, the fine plates do not have the same overwhelming effect. Additionally, the Turacos as a group are certainly more uniform than the Birds of Paradise (with the Bowerbirds thrown in). Thus again, there seems to be less attraction coming from this fine book. But I highly recommend this great book, even more if one does not have the Birds of Paradise one. Apparently, it was sold real cheaply for a while. No idea whether that's still the case.
 
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It´s a very nice video. I found very interesting to see the real material that he uses for his job.

Yes, I like it too. I keep watching it every once in a while. Aside from the fine plates, one definitely gets a better idea about how he approaches the subject. I should add that I'm not all that much impressed about the oil on canvas paintings he plans to concentrate on. But then, there are different tastes. And he may just look for a new challenge.
 
Status of the book?

so beautiful pigeons

I agree. In fact it was only on a trip to Australia that I began to like pigeons. Before, they were just some species to add to the list. The exceptions were those intriguing pigeons on Gomera, Canary Islands.

Anyone have news on the progress of this book, by the way?
 
William Cooper has a big place up near Topaz about an hour from here. Been trying to meet up with him for ages! We seem to keep missing each other...

Agree on the comments on Aussie Pigeons and Doves; an amazingly diverse group here; all of them great looking birds.
 
Any news on the status of this book?

It's been a while that we heard/read about this book. Anybody know when it's due now? There have been postponements in the past, though.
 
Further delay: April 2015.

It's been a while that we heard/read about this book. Anybody know when it's due now? There have been postponements in the past, though.

I finally contacted Andrew Isles in Australia and got the following info:

"Our current publication timeline for Pigeons and Doves of Australia is April 2015."

So let's hope this will not become an indefinite postponements story. At least, the plates should long have been done.
 
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