Publisher's Synopsis
The Art of Bird Illustration is extremely old.  Some of the incised and painted representations by palaeolithic man still retain their power to move us; they are in many cases so skilful that it is plain that they were based on an older and more ephemeral art of remote antiquity, probably originating as drawings in mud or sand. The history of bird illustration carries us back to the magico-religious myths of the earliest civilisations; certain birds connected with these myths appear over and over again in paintings, mosaics and embroideries.  Much sympathetic magic and primitive practice was based on the mysterious powers with which birds were supposed to be endowed, and this made it essential to identify and distinguish between them. The earliest comprehensive system of which we have definite knowledge was promulgated by Aristotle who is generally regarded as the father of scientific zoologyas we know it today.  There must , however, have been a considerable corrpus of earlier knowledge on which he could draw, and it is probable that primitive schemes of classification were developed by the ancient Egyptians and Sumerians...... 
 
Phaidon Press Ltd, 1975. Hardcover, excellent no dust jacket. B/w and col. ill.  Over size book. Pre-owned. ISBN: 0714816671