REDBREAST
THE ROBIN IN LIFE AND LITERATURE
By Andrew Lack
Small bump to boards otherwise a very good clean hardback in edge-worn dust-wrapper.
2008 1st edition thus. 8vo (151 x 218mm). Pp[x],x,294. Colour photographic and illustrated plates, b/w photographs, b/w illustrations, cartoon illustrations by Euan Dunn, colour illustrated end-papers. Red boards, spine titled in silver-gilt. Dust-wrapper illustration by Terence Lambert.
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"Based on the book Robin Redbreast by David Lack. Foreword by Richard Mabey. Illustrated in colour and black and white. Cartoon illustrations by Euan Dunn."
"Robin Redbreast, by eminent ornithologist, David Lack, was published in 1950. It has been called 'a classic and truly delightful book'. Redbreast: The Robin in Life and Literature, by Andrew Lack, is an updated, extended and, it can be said, a transformed version of his father's original. Andrew himself has been ever sensitive of the need to preserve those essentials, a self-imposed duty exactly described by Andrew Gosler as 'a labour of love'. The love of birds, especially of the robin, was long shared by father and son. In his Foreword, Richard Mabey describes the book as '(his) rich reworking of his father's anthology', showing that 'the bird has always been there in a corner of our hearts'. That 'reworking' has entailed much digging and delving into the robin's way of life, and its influence on so much literature. Poets who have added to the early pastoral literature included Ted Hughes, W H Davies, Hal Summers, Laurence Whistler - the list is endless. Then, there is its extraordinary presence in so many places: at Elizabethan murders; in eighteenth-century politics - and in the Victorian nursery. It was in attendance at a queen's funeral at Westminster Abbey, and at the execution of a pauper outside a country jail... The bird's long association with Christmas is evident in the robin images on our Christmas cards. A wealth of illustrations, including a Beatrix Potter watercolour, and one by J M W Turner, decorate the text. Further enhancing it, we find a series of original cartoons by Euan Dunn, of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. What wonderful fun they provide!" (Publisher's blurb).
"This updated version has itself been a labour of love for Lack's son, Andrew, who is to be warmly congratulated on its publication. No less than the original, the book is a delight; we are much the richer for it." (Dr Andrew Gosler, Edward Grey Institute, Oxford, Former editor IBIS and BIRD STUDY).
"David Lack's ROBIN REDBREAST has long been one of my favourite bird books. How appropriate that one of his sons should write such a wonderful replacement. Nobody interested in Robins will be able to resist it." (Dr David Harper, Senior Lecturer, University of Sussex).
"...The range of topics covered is wonderfully diverse, providing insight and entertainment in equal measure regarding the history of the robin." (Dr Robert Prys-Jones, Director, Bird Group, Natural History Museum).
Contents include:- Acknowledgements; Foreword; Introduction; 'Tamest of the feathered race'; The saga of Cock Robin; 'Piously did cover them with leaves'; Robins and prisoners; 'Robin Redbreast tunes his note'; 'Lord in heaven, how he sings!'; The robin in myth and folklore; 'The Westminster wonder'; The robin's home life; 'A Robin Redbreast in a cage'; Robins and children; A happy Christmas; Index of authors; General index; Notes on Richard Mabey, Terence Lambert and Euan Dunn.