PHILIPPE (Xavier) - Lot 293

PHILIPPE (Xavier) Ornithologie Pyrénéenne - Oiseaux Sédentaires - Oiseaux de passage régulier, irrégulier et accidentel dans les Pyrénées Françaises. Bagnères, Cazenave, 1873. In-8: VIII, 158pp. Modern Bradel-style boards, red spine label. A good copy. Rare, the first major book on the subject to cover the entire chain, Lapeyrouse's work considers only the birds of Haute-Garonne. Published by the Société Ramond from the author's manuscript. Perhaps there was competition with Adrien Lacroix, who published his "Catalogue raisonné des Oiseaux observés dans les Pyrénées Françaises" in 1875 (the title indicates 1873-75). A handwritten copy of Philippe's Ornithologie by Dr. Lafforgue reads: "Notes posthumes publiées dans le Bulletin de la Soc. Ramond, en 1873". In the 1874 Bulletin, Bouillé states in his article "Quelques Observations sur l'Ornithologie Pyrénéenne de Philippe": "(This work) which our Bulletin has just published...". This publication does not appear in the bulletin's tables, but was distributed as a "supplement" with the April and July 1873 issues, paginated separately from the bulletin (the covers of these issues make no mention of the "supplement"). Leconte gives it with a pagination that follows that of the bulletin (p.169-337), which seems to be an error, and never verified in paperback copies. (Labarère 1185)