The Canary by Rev. Francis Smith first edition 1868

SMITH (Rev. Francis).
 
The Canary: Its Varieties, Management, and Breeding. With Portraits of the Author’s Own Birds.
 
London: Groombridge and Sons, 1868.
 
8vo, pp. 146 with 6b pages of advertisements at the rear, original green cloth gilt, upper board with decorative gilt border and central canary motif; spine richly gilt along with text blocks; light rubbing to extremities, small bumps to corners, a few spots internally, but an excellent, bright, very good or better copy overall. All hand-coloured plates present.
 
First edition of this handsomely produced Victorian avicultural guide, notable for its series of fine hand-coloured plates depicting the author’s own canaries — “Brilliant and Blanche,” “Dandy,” and other named birds from his aviary. Smith, a clergyman and amateur naturalist, provides a detailed account of canary breeding, varieties, song, management, and show standards at a time when competitive bird-keeping was flourishing in Britain. The coloured portraits were intended both as illustration and as a visual record of prize specimens of the period. This copy is a particularly attractive survival.