Why I love inflation and the four greatest bird books in history. they are at 1016 Madison Avenue, NYC, NY, 10075

yes. but what does it mean when the top ten central banks of the world create $22 trillion adding 8% to the money supply with no improvement in efficiency? there can only be one result. you cant pour a gallon of water into a pint glass. all those factory workers in the heartland living on pensions are going to switch to dog food to make ends meet. "doing the right thing" will be all we have left with trust in the medium of exchange ruined. more than ever your radiating goodness will be our lynchpin there is one good thing that comes from this: growing up there were a group of people in Philadelphia who truly believed that they were better than everyone else because of their grandparent's stature. foolishly it got to me. One day a friend of mine pointed to a man at our Tennis club and said "wow. that man is worth a million dollars. I would love to be that rich someday" now all those entitled people cant afford to pay their real estate taxes. inflation has deeply damaged a large portion of that crowd secretly diminishing their inherited wealth. GREAT here is a cool story: Four of the world's greatest ornithological books are now assembled at Arader Galleries in New York City. This gathering spans the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries telling the story of European and American obsession with finding and illustrating new and exotic species as colonial supremacy. The collection's timeline begins in the seventeenth century with Pieter Holsteyn's Aves aquatiles advivum eleganter which is the first compilation of ornithological drawing depicting bird species from all six continents. The 168 paintings depict 81 species and another 30 hybrids and avicultural varieties. The wild birds include many native to the Netherlands and a wide range of species from other hemispheres where the Dutch had established colonies and trading posts. The portraits of avicultural varieties reveal an interest in experimentation in hybridizing different wild birds, especially ducks, and selecting unusual features in parrots and barnyard fowl. The album depicts a remarkable number of albino birds, from peafowl and pheasants to ducks, that – long before any formal knowledge of genetics – resulted from very selective breeding. The extraordinary watercolors of birds found in these albums were drawn from specimens, dead and alive, brought back from all the Dutch empire; as such, it represents the earliest known depiction of birds from around the world. The collection and Holsteyn commission's scale suggests its owner was prosperous, perhaps even a shareholder in the very profitable Dutch East India Company that brought back new and unknown birds, both alive and as specimens. Here we have a glimpse into the private world of a Dutch ornithological connoisseur who enjoyed experimenting in creating crosses between natural species, familiar and exotic, as well as in studying the specimens carried from distant outposts of the growing Dutch trading empire. Pieter Holsteyn the Younger, a pupil of his father, practiced his art in his native Haarlem and at Zwolle and Munster. Holsteyn's versatility and precision served him well in painting birds and flowers during this extraordinary time for the Dutch. In the eighteenth-century, America became the most exotic destination in the world. Mark Catesby and William Bartram were progenitors of this nation's earliest natural history imagery. Arriving in the states this week is the Peter Collinson collection of Mark Catesby's extra-illustrated Natural History and portfolio of original watercolors by Catesby, William Bartram, George Edwards, and Georg Ehret. It is an extraordinary grouping that has been in the hands of the Earls of Derby at Knowsley since the mid-nineteenth century. Included are eleven Mark Catesby watercolors, none have been available since the eighteenth century, fifty-one William Bartram watercolors, no original work by this artist has been offered since 1842, and significant watercolors grouping by Georg Ehret and George Edwards. Technically described as an extra-illustrated copy of Mark Catesby's The Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands and the volume of individual watercolors and prints assembled by Peter Collinson from the early 1740s through 1767; they are far more complex and rich. The remarkable set of Natural History was a presentation set from the author, Mark Catesby, to Collinson and was extra-illustrated with watercolors by Catesby, William Bartram, Georg Ehret, and George Edwards. Along with this unique first edition set is a portfolio of bound watercolors assembled by Collinson. This volume of watercolors and prints includes the famous drawing of John Bartram's garden, early watercolors of American birds and plants by William Bartram, America's first naturalist and son of John Bartram, a co-founder of the American Philosophical Society; exotic specimen birds by George Edwards, among other rarities. Together it is widely considered one of the most important archives relating to this circle of collectors, natural historians, artists, and garden owners in London during the first half of the 18th-century. It is a precious contemporary record of intertwined horticultural and artistic relationships with no parallel in the United States. Present are some of the most exceptional botanical and ornithological drawings and prints by Mark Catesby, William Bartram, George Edwards, and Georg Ehret, annotated by Peter Collinson and others. Collinson's curation is of immense importance to scholars of eighteenth-century American and British culture, including the history of science, gardens, landscape, collecting, and natural history art and illustration. In tandem with the Collinson collection, Arader Galleries also possesses a complete set of John James Audubon's Birds of America. These early American works flesh out the nascent study of botany and ornithology in America. Audubon's landmark work, with 435 life-size hand-colored aquatints of birds, had an immeasurable impact on American and European natural history; it set the standard for future generations of naturalists and artists alike. Audubon's work "larger than life" approach to documenting all of America's ornithological gems brought sparkle and elegance to the rough and rowdy wilderness it was known to be. Approximately fifteen private families in America own complete sets of Audubon's Birds of America, and 104 are in institutional collections. Our early subscriber's copy is exceptional. The original hand-coloring is a level above anything we have seen. This set was used as a model to market and sell additional subscriptions to The Birds of America. The crisp impressions, the paper quality, the richest greens, the deepest blues, and the vibrant reds jump off the page. While America rose to prominence in learned naturalists' circles, the lure of brightly colored and yet to be described exotics in Africa also reigned supreme. Johannes Gerard Keulemans was one of the foremost ornithological illustrators of the nineteenth-century. Dutch by origin, he was part of a select band of continental European bird and animal artists attracted to England during the middle and latter half of the nineteenth century. Throughout his acclaimed career, his distinctive and exquisitely rendered bird illustrations graced publications including Daniel Giraud Elliot's monographs on the pheasants and hornbills, Henry Eeles Dresser's History of the Birds of Europe, Bowdler Sharpe's monograph on kingfishers, and George E. Shelley's on sunbirds, as well as his own Natural History of the Cage Birds. His illustrations of birds for works related to geographic regions are equally diverse, covering Great Britain, Europe, Abyssinia, Australia, New Zealand, India, South Africa, and Central America. The Bee-Eaters are a group of near passerine birds in the family Meropidae. Most species are found in Africa, but others occur in southern Europe, Madagascar, Australia, and New Guinea. In these watercolors, most Bee-eaters are depicted in pairs (22 in total), with occasionally a sole juvenile bird. Keulemans aims to represent the birds in their natural environment and natural behavior. Keuleman's drawings are the preparatory works for Henry Dresser's A Monograph of the Meropidae, or Family of the Bee-Eaters. Little was known of Bee-eaters during this time. Thus, the work undertaken by Keulemans and Dresser became the established reference for future research. J.G. Keulemans's original work is scarce. There are several watercolors in the British Museum collection and other institutions, and few in private collections. This magnificent watercolor book depicting the bee-eaters is a vital document in the history of the Meropidae species and a remarkable opportunity to attain an original work by one of the foremost bird artists working in Victorian Britain.