Buller’s Birds of New Zealand: The Complete Work of JG Keulemans (New Edition)

New Zealand's best-loved birds come alive in luminous colour in Buller’s Birds of New Zealand: The Complete Work of JG Keulemans.

By Geoff Norman

Publication date: October 2014
Foreword by: Stephen Fry
NZ RRP (incl. GST): $65.00
Extent: 164 pages
Format: Hardback, 280 x 210mm
Illustrations: 140+ full-colour plates and black-and-white images
ISBN: 9780987668868

Buy Buller's Birds of New Zealand from Te Papa Store

This accessible new edition of the award-winning classic Buller’s Birds of New Zealand includes the complete set of 95 artworks from both editions of A History of the Birds of New Zealand by Walter Buller and the subsequent supplement, specially photographed and reproduced in full colour using high quality modern printing techniques. Each bird painting is accompanied by a selection of Buller’s original, descriptive text as well as up-to-date taxonomic information in English and te reo Māori.

Uniquely, Buller’s Birds of New Zealand features fresh reproductions of the original watercolour-and-pencil paintings for Buller’s iconic second edition and its supplement, made possible by the author’s rediscovery of these works at the Ornithological Branch of the British Natural History Museum. Bright, luminous and clear, Keulemans’s masterpieces are seen here for the first time as the artist intended.

With a foreword by Stephen Fry and an introduction that traces the history of ornithological painting, and tells the story of Buller and his talented artist, this definitive book will appeal to all those who love New Zealand’s unique avifauna.

Look inside Buller’s Birds of New Zealand

Reviews

Listen to an interview with Kim Hill on National Radio (20 October 2012).

Hear Alison Ballance interviewing author Geoff Norman and Te Papa curator Colin Miskelly on Our Changing World, National Radio (15 November 2012).

'We will never know first hand what those extinct birds looked or sounded like but here they are within the pages of this beautiful boxed set.'
New Zealand Herald, December 2012

'Our national birds fly off every page as exquisite and bright and alive as the artist intended. Each painting and original 19th-century caption by Buller gets plenty of visual oxygen in the form of its own double-page spread. Excellent modern add-ons include each bird’s name in Māori, and a foreword by Stephen Fry (who calls the kakapo an "utterly endearing, fat nocturnal parrot").'
North & South, December 2012

About the Author

A keen tramper and ecologist, Geoff Norman holds qualifications in science and environmental studies and has worked in publishing for over 25 years. Buller's Birds of New Zealand: The Complete Work of JG Keulemans is his first full-length book.

Author: Geoff Norman
Publication date: October 2014
Foreword by: Stephen Fry
NZ RRP (incl. GST): $65.00
Extent: 164 pages
Format: Hardback, 280 x 210mm
Illustrations: 140+ full-colour plates and black-and-white images
ISBN: 9780987668868

Buy Buller's Birds of New Zealand from Te Papa Store