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

The last chapter of the biography gives some insight into the pigeon project and shows a few exemples of the art to be included. All the watercolours and drawings for the book were recently bought by Andrew Isles to be sold en bloc for a tremendous amount. There goes my sparrow !
 
The last chapter of the biography gives some insight into the pigeon project and shows a few exemples of the art to be included. All the watercolours and drawings for the book were recently bought by Andrew Isles to be sold en bloc for a tremendous amount. There goes my sparrow !

If it has to be en bloc, I hope the collection goes into an Australian museum. The Australian government should do all they can to keep this set public.

I always wonder what the New Guinea government has done with the birds of paradise/bowerbirds plates?
 
Disappointingly thin paper

I received my copy today. The admittedly very high expectations have not become fully satisfied, I'm afraid.

I think the publishers did the artist and the art lovers a major disservice with the selection of the type of paper. It is very thin, and thus the printing from the back of the page shines through. It's particularly distracting in providing a lined background all around the actual illustrations. One would think that there have been enough art publications in the past to indicate which criteria need to be fulfilled for such a task. :-C

Other than that, the actual printing is of very decent quality. The metallic effects in the wings of several species come through as well as one might expect as long as no actual metallic colors are employed.

I have only briefly sampled the fine and often very extensive texts, so can't say much about them. I presume, many buyers - like myself - get the book mainly for the artwork, though.
 
I'm very sorry to bring this sad news to you all, but I've just read that Bill Cooper has died last Sunday May 10th. The world has lost the last great bird painter.
 
........ The world has lost the last great bird painter.

That's the way I feel too. Cooper's special talent was that he included enough of the habitats and plants to create much more than just a bird painting. And in particular, he made it a point to be as accurate with the plants he included. A very sad loss, indeed.
 
Andrew Isles came up with this. If you've got your copy from him you can get a replacement copy from his place. For free. I expect the same applies if you bought it directly from CSIRO.
 
Andrew Isles came up with this. If you've got your copy from him you can get a replacement copy from his place. For free. I expect the same applies if you bought it directly from CSIRO.

Thanks for this info. I will contact CSIRO then. Seems like a good idea to do better justice to this superb artist.
 
Andrew Isles came up with this. If you've got your copy from him you can get a replacement copy from his place. For free. I expect the same applies if you bought it directly from CSIRO.

Thanks for this info. I will contact CSIRO then. Seems like a good idea to do better justice to this superb artist. Though, if they want me to return the unsatisfactory book, it will be a costly replacement.
 
........ Though, if they want me to return the unsatisfactory book, it will be a costly replacement.

Looks like I'll get a replacement in July. So far no word about having to return the unsatisfactory copy. It would seem that they consider the whole issue as being rather embarrassing. To which I would agree. Thus, a generous handling of the matter might be the way to compensate for it.
 
Judging by what is written on his site Isles must have it. CSIRO mentions nothing of a reprint whatsoever.

That's why I had asked. But I had been assured by someone from CSIRO that they would send me an improved version. And it would seem clear that Andrew Isles does not have a separate printer. Though they might well get priority treatment.

Also, I suspect that CSIRO is not too keen having to replace too many books. Somewhat similar to the position Knopf had been in with their second edition Sibley.
 
Andrew Isles mention having 5 books in stock, so the new version is obviously out. I'll need to ask CSIRO about my copy then.

Apparently, without my intervention, I would not have received a replacement as the records were not transferred when the person in charge left the company. So it's good to personally keep records and to get back at the publisher. Hope it will work out now. They even promised to send it by express mail.
 
Still far from what it should be!

Apparently, without my intervention, I would not have received a replacement as the records were not transferred when the person in charge left the company. So it's good to personally keep records and to get back at the publisher. Hope it will work out now. They even promised to send it by express mail.

I was gone for five weeks. Now my replacement copy was waiting for me. But what a disappointment. The "heavier" paper is still too thin to prevent the backsides from shining through. I have shown samples here:
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?p=3282616#post3282616
 
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