[Baines, Thomas].

The Birds of South Africa Painted by Thomas Baines (1820 – 1875) – Comprising the complete collection of ninety plates executed by Thomas Baines, together with descriptions from the text of C.J.Andersson’s ‘Notes on the Birds of Damara Land and the adjacent Countries of South-West Africa’, with a biographical Essay by R.F.Kennedy. [Includes an excellent illustration of the Red-necked Falcon (Falco chiquera) – see image].

Limited Hand-Numbered Edition [No.404 of only 500]. Johannesburg, Winchester Press, 1975. Quarto (28.4 cm wide x 33.5 cm high). Frontispiece-Portrait of Thomas Baines (see image), 204 pages with 90 colourful illustrations / plates. Original Hardcover with glassine jacket in original slipcase. Excellent condition with only minor signs of wear. A wonderful and now rare publication in excellent condition.

Includes the following 90 illustrations of Birds:

African Spoonbill /

Bank Cormorant / Bateleur / Black-cheeked Waxbill / Black-necked Grebe / Blacksmith Plover / Buffalo Weaver /

Cape Cormorant / Cape Gannet / Cape Starling / Cape Teal / Cape Turtle Dove / Cardinal Woodpecker / Chanting Goshawk / Crimson-breasted Shrike / Crowned Crane / Curlew /

Dabchick / Double-banded Sandgrouse / Dwarf Bittern /

Egyptian Goose / European Roller

Fiscal Shrike (immature) / Fish Eagle / Fork-tailed Drongo /

Gabar Goshawk (normal phase adult) / Gabar Goshawk (Melantisic phase) / Giant Eagle-owl / Golden-tailed woodpecker / Goliath Heron / Greater Flamingo / Grey Hornbill / Grey Loerie / Grey Plover / Groundscraper Thrush /

Hamerkop / Hooded Vulture / Hoopoe /

Jackass Penguin /

Knob-billed Duck / Knysna Loerie /

Lappet-faced Vulture / Lesser Flamingo / Lilac-breasted Roller /

Marabou Stork / Martial Eagle / Monteiro’s Hornbill / Mountain Chat (I) / Mountain Chat (II) /

Namaqua Dove / Namaqua Sandgrouse / Night Heron /

Ostrich /

Pale-winged Starling / Paradise Whydah / Pearl-breasted Swallow / Pied Babbler / Pied Barbet / Pririt Flycacher /

Red-billed Hoopoe / Red-crested Korhaan / Red-eyed Bulbul / Red-necked Falcon (immature) / Reed Cormorant / Rock Kestrel / Ruff / Rueppel’s Korhaan / Rueppel’s Parrot /

Sabota Lark / Sacred Ibis / Scimitar-billed Hoopoe / Scrops Owl / Senegal Coucal / Shaft-tailed Whydah / SHort-toed Rock Thrush / Southern Black-backed Gull / Swallow-tailed Bee-eater / Tawny Eagle / Three-banded Plover / Tit-babbler /

Violet-eared Waxbill /

White-backed Duck / White-backed Mousebird / White-bellied Stork / White-crowned Shrike / White-faced Owl / White-headed Vulture / White Helmet Shrike / White Stork /

Yellow-billed Duck / Yellow-billed Hornbill / Yellow-billed Kite //

(John) Thomas Baines (27 November 1820 – 8 May 1875) was an English artist and explorer of British colonial southern Africa and Australia.
Born in King’s Lynn, Norfolk, on 27 November 1820, Baines was apprenticed to a coach painter at the age of 16. When he was 22 he left England for South Africa aboard the “Olivia” (captained by a family friend William Roome) and worked for a while in Cape Town as a scenic and portrait artist, and as official war artist during the so-called Eighth Frontier War for the British Army.

In 1855 Baines joined Augustus Gregory’s 1855–1857 Royal Geographical Society sponsored expedition across northern Australia as official artist and storekeeper. he expedition’s purpose was to explore the Victoria River district in the north-west and to evaluate the entire northern area of Australia in terms of its suitability for colonial settlement. His association with the North Australian Expedition was the highpoint of his career, and he was warmly commended for his contribution to it, to the extent that Mount Baines and the Baines River were named in his honour.

In 1858 Baines accompanied David Livingstone along the Zambezi, and was one of the first white men to view Victoria Falls. In 1869 Baines led one of the first gold prospecting expeditions to Mashonaland in what later became Rhodesia.

From 1861 to 1862 Baines and James Chapman undertook an expedition to South West Africa. Chapman’s Travels in the Interior of South Africa (1868) and Baines’ Explorations in South-West Africa (1864), provide a rare account of different perspectives on the same trip. This was the first expedition during which extensive use was made of both photography and painting, and in addition both men kept journals in which, amongst other things, they commented on their own and each other’s practice.

Baines made some of the drawings for the engravings illustrating Alfred Russel Wallace’s 1869 book The Malay Archipelago.
In 1870 Baines was granted a concession to explore for gold between the Gweru and Hunyani rivers by Lobengula, leader of the Matabele nation. Thomas Baines died in Durban on 8 May 1875 and is buried in West Street Cemetery.

Baines is today best known for his detailed paintings and sketches which give a unique insight into colonial life in southern Africa and Australia. Most of his work is held in London. Many of his pictures are held by the National Library of Australia, National Archives of Zimbabwe, National Maritime Museum, Brenthurst Library and the Royal Geographical Society. There are also numerous paintings at the Castle of Good Hope in Cape Town. The Thomas Baines Nature Reserve in the Eastern Cape of South Africa was also named after him. Baines is also commemorated in the Aloe bainesii T.-Dyer, Albuca bainesii Baker, Iboza bainesii N.E.Br and many others. (Wikipedia)

• Keywords: 19th Century – Rare · Africa – Rare · Art · Art – Rare · Birds · Birds of Africa · Birds of South Africa · Catalogue Four – International Art · Catalogue No.10 – International Literature · Expedition · Expedition Rare · Expeditions – Rare · Illustrated Books · Illustrated Books Rare · Natural History · Natural History – Rare · Ornithology · Ornithology – Rare
• Language: English
• Inventory Number: 32154AB

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