Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Publication
Franklin Watts (1967), Edition: 1st, Hardcover
Description
A stare of owls. A fall of woodcock. A congregation of plover. A company of parrots. This unique children's book includes easy-to-read, single-sentence entries that describe fourteen common species of birds, including swans, herons, phesants, bitterns, and owls. Four-color illustrations complement the text, providing a curiosity-sparking introduction to the fascinating world of birding.
User reviews
LibraryThing member conuly
The pictures in this book are gorgeous. Each one illustrates a group of birds and a collective term for them - an unkindness of ravens, a colony of penguins.
The only thing missing is a murder of crows - and who among us doesn't relish the chance to point to a group of crows and say "Murder" in
The only thing missing is a murder of crows - and who among us doesn't relish the chance to point to a group of crows and say "Murder" in
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deep and booming tones? - but then again, this is a kid's book. Show Less
LibraryThing member booktsunami
Unfortunately, my copy is smelling a bit musty. It's what you might have to put up with when you buy a book at the Saturday market for a few dollars. But the illustrations are still brilliant. Story? There is no story: "A walk of snipe"; "A wedge of swans"; "A fall of woodcock" and so on. Did he
I recently wrote to the web site devoted to his work and received a delightful letter from his daughter who confirmed that they had no videos of him working ...so pretty difficult to decipher how he actually worked. But the end result is truly a marvel. The siege of bitterns with their beaks pointing up amid a few rough reeds seems to capture the essence of the birds...the colour, the pose, the beady eyes.
He specialised in birds and seems to have been able to effortlessly produce a bird of whatever shape......though I recall him saying somewhere that this effortlessness came of much practice. In his latter years he was apparently annoyed that he hadn't been given the recognition in England that he thought was warranted. (There was museum in Japan devoted to his work and that's where i first came across his work and later sought it out), Sadly, I no longer find his work in print. Maybe by taking himself and family off to France he removed himself from the hurly burly of art and publishing in England and somewhat removed himself from view. But it also attests to the fact that to be successful in Art one needs to also be a great publicist (or have one woking for you). Picasso said the key to success is in having a great agent.
Anyway, despite the lack of recognition....it takes nothing away from the power of the art itself. It's ostensibly directed at children but for me this is art for all ages. Love it. Five stars from me...even if my copy is musty.
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just make these names up or are they real names for numbers of things. Why does English have these strange collective nouns for animals? I just checked out a couple of these and they all seem to be legitimate. Wildsmith's style is deceptively erratic. At first glance like a child's scribbles but what an explosion of controlled colour> I constantly find myself asking: "How did he do this?" seems to be a wonderful melange of watercolour, gouche, crayon, spatter, sgraffito....and is there some work there with pen and ink? Not sure. I recently wrote to the web site devoted to his work and received a delightful letter from his daughter who confirmed that they had no videos of him working ...so pretty difficult to decipher how he actually worked. But the end result is truly a marvel. The siege of bitterns with their beaks pointing up amid a few rough reeds seems to capture the essence of the birds...the colour, the pose, the beady eyes.
He specialised in birds and seems to have been able to effortlessly produce a bird of whatever shape......though I recall him saying somewhere that this effortlessness came of much practice. In his latter years he was apparently annoyed that he hadn't been given the recognition in England that he thought was warranted. (There was museum in Japan devoted to his work and that's where i first came across his work and later sought it out), Sadly, I no longer find his work in print. Maybe by taking himself and family off to France he removed himself from the hurly burly of art and publishing in England and somewhat removed himself from view. But it also attests to the fact that to be successful in Art one needs to also be a great publicist (or have one woking for you). Picasso said the key to success is in having a great agent.
Anyway, despite the lack of recognition....it takes nothing away from the power of the art itself. It's ostensibly directed at children but for me this is art for all ages. Love it. Five stars from me...even if my copy is musty.
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Language
Physical description
10.6 inches