First illustration of an Australian bird. Notable for being the first book to include an illustration of an Australian bird. Brown (fl.1766-1791) was reported by Thomas Pennant to be a Dane by birth, and 'a very neat limner' (a painter of ornamental decoration). He was appointed Botanical Painter to the Prince of Wales in 1783.

The Australian bird was the Blue bellied parrot, painted by Brown in 1774, following Captain Cook's first voyage. The book also contains an engraving of a New Zealand Creeper. The work is principally based on specimens in the natural history collections of Marmaduke Tunstall who kept a museum in London, and Thomas Pennant. It also includes plates after drawings by the Ceylonese artist P.C. de Bevere in Java and Ceylon. Forty-two of the plates depict birds, 5 mammals, 2 insects and one an amphibian. Much of the text was supplied by Pennant, whilst the work was published by Gilbert White's brother, Benjamin.

First edition; 4to; titles and text in English and French, 50 hand-coloured engraved plates after the author, some numbered in manuscript; modern red crushed morocco gilt, all edges gilt by Sangorski & Sutcliffe, a very good, clean copy.

Nissen IVB, 151; Wood p.264; Zimmer pp101-102.