A rough History of Field Guides

 

Hi-

the Modern field guide ***  didnt really exist til Roger Tory Peterson brought out his Guide to US Birds in the 1950s. It was mostly (!) illustrated in b/w.  The publishers didnt expect it to sell- it did.

In Britain the Observers book of birds was probably the most portable guide until Peterson (with Mountford and Hollom) brought out the European version.  ( A British Guide by ( excellent) illustrator Richard Richardson never caught on- shame- it had decent pics of Lapland Buntings etc.  that arguably were better than the PMH. )

Peterson was  still the best up to 1976 ( a good re-vamp - previous to this juvenile waders were NOT illustrated in 90% of field guides !!! ) despite the appearance of the Hamlyn guide ( Singer) and the  Collins Birds of Europe with North Africa and the Middle East  (Heinzel Fitter Parslow)  guide which  showed us a whole load of new spp.  Various smaller guides appeared using colour codes, arrows etc. to help our ID. Most didnt make much impact. Pocket guides began to appear as printing techniques improved.

In 1980 or so along came the Shell guide. Small illustrations but accurate- good jizz- and lots of rarities at the back. Then things speeded up a bit. A young artist named Jonsson from Sweden appeared with a series of small guides, and we all knew that bird illustration had changed forever. By the time he had produced a huge one- off  combined European guide various others were in preparation ( like the Collins ) and several specialist volumes were appearing. The  two MacMillan Guides to ID  ( Vinnecombe and then Shirihai) covered tough species and the Colston Lewington Alstrom guide to real rarities set new standards.

In 2000 the Collins guide appeared and it looks as though that will be the standard for the next 20 years.

:)

Photo field Guides had arguably always been a poor relation- you needed multiple dozens of  photographers ( and there weren't that many camera jockeys) to pay royalties to ( EXPENSIVE)  and the birds seemed to smell Kodachrome 400 at 300 yards; However a corner may have been turned as Digital cameras obviously give off no odours ( citation needed) and the arrival of 'Britain's Birds'  in 2016 may have turned a corner for the Photo Guide.

S

 ***  Guides to birds have existed since the 19thy century-  see Gould, Bewick etc.  J.G. Keulemans was the leader in the  British Victorian era until Thorburn arrived . George Lodge was also a major force. Books such as Dressers Birds of Europe weighed about a ton.  Witherby's Handbook of British Birds was the major reference work but had 5 volumes. Smaller versions appeared much as Birds of the Western Palearctic did in the 1970s-90s.