In most fields of book collecting, there are a number of books that make a collection in their own right. To be added to when possible, some would call them must haves.
Poultry books are no different, though there will always be debate about which ones are the most important. In poultry books, the early colour plate books seem to hold the title of being essential in any serious collection. But remember, condition is of first importance. However, different collectors have different priorities. Some want original bindings, some want special bindings as that makes the book unique. Some want additions, such as inscriptions, extra material added to the book, owners or authors signatures, or special pieces of relevant history, And then some just want the book to read. So I have collected a list of the 7 big must haves of the early colour poultry literature. I have listed them in order of the publication date. These were in part the fuel of the “Hen Fever” that was starting to bubble, so there was a rush of demand for colour books. As always there will be others who will say what about this or that book you missed. I am the author of this article so I am making what I perceive to be the best selection. Indeed the into to Doyle ( see below) alludes to the crowded market place for poultry books. However if I have made a mistake, and you know better please email me This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. I will enjoy the conversation. Jim
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1/ Wingfield and Johnson. The Poultry Book 1853, 326 pages. Wm S Orr and Co, London. 22 Plates by Harrison Weir. All edges guilt, guilt plate printed cloth case, perfect bound.
The list of illustrations gives 22 plates however in this copy 2 of the plates are combined with other plates, indicating probably that some required replacement due to damage in production and it was cheaper to combine 2 plates than renew the plates. In addition another random plate, the Black Polands is not listed and has been places a frontis opposite the colour title page. The buff polish has the white ptarmigan fowl opposite page 55 and the Black East Indian added to the Roun opposite page 288. So all the listed plates are present with 2 combined and making 20 actual plates plus the random Black Polands and the Title page making 22 total colour plates. I don’t know of a second edition, and all I have seen are the same and very badly damaged or only parts of the book.
This book is quite rare as a whole book. In fact it was a disaster. It was one of the first books made with a new rubber glue in the “perfect” binding method. In this method, the sheets were individual pages which were then simply glued with a rubber glue on the back like a modern paperback. Unfortunately, the technique, used to save some money by not sewing the sections, started to fail just like modern paperbacks. After a few reads pages were falling out. I haven’t seen one advertised in the stitched format, though several advertised were a stack of single sheets like this one. Such a pity to spend money on the extensive gilding and expensive plates to make a book destined to fall apart. I have seen stapled sections of plates, and individual plates. I suspect this was the first source of the plates used to decorate kitchens, fuelling the market that couldn’t afford a complete Harrison weir, or complete a Lewis Wright. I am sure there a few out there still, a pile of pages.
2/ Ferguson’s Rare and Prize Poultry 1854 PP372 with 23 chromolithographs of the poultry by Culliford, and one frontis of Her Majesties Poultry Houses.
I think this is still the rarest of the chomo plate poultry books, though there are others printed before it, and after it. Few have the fineness of plate work, and depth of material, though some think of the plates a s “wooden”. It seems the book was a very limited print size, I have only owned one, and seen 3 others. All cost an exorbitant amount and all had been significantly restored. In my case the book was in a very damaged binding, and was professionally rebound and placed in a protective slip case. I have reports that the plates list is variable. I haven’t seen this but the various bibliographies and verbal reports I have had indicate that the actual plates vary. One reference I have seen but is unverified says that Ferguson was issued in parts. I cant confirm. Rare in any condition, but be careful to check all the plates are there. If plates are missing or pages are missing the value falls sharply. The most valuable copy would be a mint copy with the wrappers for each section unbound, if one actually exists
5/ Doyle, Martin. (edited by)( nom de plume), The Illustrated Book of Domestic Poultry. 1854 114pp. several editions. George Routledge and Co London. 20 colour plates and 20 wood engravings. The figures drawn from nature by C H Weigal engraved and printed in oil by W Dickes and Co. The binding is an embossed cloth binding with large guild front board and highly decorated spine. Hard to find with the cloth binding in good condition. Another book issued in parts, with a publishers cover issued after the last part. Doyle was Mr Lawrence, who was afraid that poultry were women's work and he didn't want the potential repercussions of his social circle. I had the same problem when I started out " You do what? Keep chickens ? only our grandparents did that not modern people in 1977.
4/ Tegetmeier, W. B. The Poultry Book.
First Edition 1867 30 Chromos 37 illustrations, 356pp, issued in 15 parts. Includes the Standards of Excellence in Exhibition Birds. This is important as I suspect though as yet cannot prove that it is the basis for the first Halstead Standard of Perfection, 1867 in the USA. This edition in a plate printed gilt embossed case, collectible all on its own. Issues in parts with the embossed cased purchased at the end.
Second Edition 1873 Greatly enlarged 30 Chromo-lithographs 39 illustrations an this edition doesn’t include the Standards of Excellence. Was there another version of the standards by then? The second edition is in a half leather binding, with cloth sides with gold edging and titling.
The chromos in both volumes are taken from Harrison Weir 1866 with some plates unsigned.
Tegetmeier’s work was very well regarded as he was A fellow of the Royal Society. He regularly contributed to nature discussions and was published on many occasions on nature and animal husbandry. He also contributed on Poultry marketing and management. He was often controversial and it is reported that he didn’t see eye to eye with Lewis Wright and that Wrights first edition was rushed out to compete with the impending publication of Lewis Wrights work, or Lewis wrights advertising for his first edition was rushed out to disrupt the sales of Tegetmeier. I am not sure how much was true and how much is beat up.
5/ Lewis Wright. The Illustrated Book of Poultry. 1870. My copy annotated 1st ed 2nd release, 1870. 50 coloured plates with Black breasted Game on the frontis, 591 printed pages. I find this book problematic as a collectible. One great collectible of the issues is rarity. The one in front on me is rare for a different reason. It is the personal copy of Mark Marshall signed by him twice. I think that makes it unique. I havent been able to locate another letter of MM to verify the signature, but the provenance of this book assures me that it was the personal copy of MM.
Wrights Poultry has multiple editions both colour and b/w. The coloured plates are by Ludlow and often regarded as the best plates ever produced, and were used in many books of later times. As far as I can find, a few copies of the early editions were bound by the publishers, but most were subscription sales. The subscription system allowed the publisher to have a larger sales base as the book was issued in parts over a period of time. It allowed the customers to afford the book, and also allowed them to show their friends as each section arrived and so lots more wanted the book. So the first edition was barely off the press when the second edition subscription was open while the first sections of the first edition were still flowing out. It also means the front date was the date of the first section, not of the last sent up to 24(?) months later. Large quantities of each edition were printed with less risk to the printer. So the date is taken from the first section not the last.
The other issue is that the plates vary considerably. Chromolithographic printing and hand finishing is a complex task. It means almost every plate is unique, drawn on stone, printed, then hand touched up. Accidently mark the image on the stone, means you must clean off the image and do a new one. It also means most editions have plates that are different. Good artists can make very close copies but still there are differences in content and quality. Also the quality can and does vary, larger the print run more likely damage of the chromos, and different one added in. The first 5 impressions of the litho stone were good, the next 30 were fine, then the gradually declined after that.
But the real collectors problem is that so many were produced that is the most collected poultry book and there are many thousands collected and stored. If they all came only the market it would crash in value. And today few want to put away the cash that was popularly spent 50 years ago to salt away these valuable books.
The actual bindings cannot be described in a standard way. The subscription method meant that everyone received the monthly issues, and at the end, some ordered a premade case from the publisher, or just had their own binders make a unique one. As a result there there are many styles of binding.
I remember back when I first started collecting, being offered a copy by a prominent dealer, so I went in to look. To his surprise, I pulled out my list of editions and plates and proceeded to check each plate. And to my surprise 2 were missing. I still don’t know if the dealer knew or simply had never checked. Buyer beware.
6/ Harrison Weir. Our Poultry and all about them. 1902. 2 Volumes Vol 1 Pages 1-442 plus 386 illustrations and 18 tipped in coloured plates. Volume 2 Pages 443-822 plus 197 illustrations and 18 tipped in colour plates. The coloured plates are not chromo-lithographs but colour printed using a print press. Although dates 1902, it was issued in parts over a period (perhaps 2 years) and a number of cases were available at the end, so appears today in a a number of binding formats, green cloth, full leather, half leather. This work is later addition to the big 7 as Harrison Weir was responsible for much of the artwork in the earlier chromolithograph era. More likely to be found with all plates as a result of the change of print method from chromos, to colour printing.. A comprehensive discussion with hundreds of black and white illustrations. A very important from an artist and animal lover who contributed to many books since his first artwork some 50 odd years earlier than this book. The actual first edition of this work was Tegetemeiers Poultry Book, so most of the chromolithographs Harrison Weir did for that work are in this work with more commentary by HW.
An internet bio actual source unknown.
Mr. Harrison Weir's life-long experience as a breeder, exhibitor, and judge of poultry entitles him to the foremost place as an authority on the subject. His new book Our Poultry, is the work of a practical man whose labours as an artist and journalist have received universal recognition, and it is no exaggeration to say that his illustrations far surpass in beauty and fidelity any pictures of poultry that have been published...; this work can certainly be called his magnum opus. Who's Who (Macmillan) in 1905 observed in their profile of Weir: 'Our Poultry and All About Them,' the writing and illustrating of which occupied his attention for upwards of 20 years, [is] for its size...unique as the work of one man, author and illustrator, there being over 600, 000 words of letterpress, 37 (sic) richly printed coloured pictures, and over 350 black and white drawings... Weir's two-volume work is relatively uncommon in a complete state, as it was issued in instalments to be bound when the series was complete. Some of the curious features, which might be described as comprising an appendix to the volumes, include Curatives and Medicines derived from poultry; Shrove Tuesday Customs involving Poultry; Cock-Crowing; Spurs; Poultry Markets; Superstitions and Omens; Proverbs, Axioms, Sayings, Etc., followed by a Glossary..
7/ Weir, Harrison with editors Johnson Brown, The Poultry Book, Doubleday and Page. pp 1311. 1903.
This is the American edition of No 6 above with many similar plates but no plates list. The subtitle says complete in 18 parts. I have seen it in publishers bindings in both 3 Volumes and single volumes, and bound in a variety of way. The 18 Parts were issued over a number of years so the date is taken from the title page. There is a large amount of different content contributed by the editors and I K Felch. The 3 volume sets seem to remain in good condition, but the single volume sets are too large for a single volume. And again the plates are printed not chromolithographs. In one way a double up for the big 7 but to be balanced, it gives an American perspective. https://www.trewalla.com.au/administrator/index.php?option=com_content&task=article.edit&id=57
I hope you enjoy this description, subjective though it is. For some support in what’s what, see Collecting Poultry Books, Sources of reference on this website. A reference library forms an important part of any collection.
Regards Jim