Mudge Library

The Edmund W. Mudge, Jr. Library of Ornithology, housed at the Museum of Nature & Science, is one of the most important and valuable illustrated bird libraries in the United States. It contains about 4,000 volumes relating to ornithology (the study of birds). Many are rare antique and landmark books, some dated as early as 1536.

This extraordinary collection was the gift of the late Dallas philanthropist Edmund W. Mudge, Jr. Mudge was chairman of Mudge Oil Co. and a longtime benefactor of the Museum of Nature & Science. He died in 1985 at the age of 80.

The Mudge Library has been described as "a comprehensive collections of books, pamphlets, journals, original illustrations and hand-colored plates relating to all aspects of ornithology." It includes first editions of many landmark publications and "beautifully executed oversize volumes of hand-coloured lithographic plates." Recent publications, such as the complete runs of major ornithological journals, are also part of the collection.

Some of the high points of the library include works by John James Audubon (we have the original 1840-1844 octavo edition of The Birds of America, as well the facsimile copy of the 1827-1838 double elephant folio version), George Louis LeClerc, Comte de Buffon's Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux, published in Paris 1770-1786, which contains 914 hand-colored plates, rare in its own right, but rarer still because the supplements by Daubenton, Temminck, Des Murs, and Sclater are also part of the Mudge Library. These are not minor supplements either-Daubenton runs to seven oversize folio volumes, published in Paris from 1765-1780, containing more than 1,000 hand colored plates.

The library contains the 1754 folio edition of Mark Catesby's The Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands, George Edwards' A Natural History of Birds (1743-1751) and Gleanings of Natural History (1758-1764) and Daniel Giraud Elliott's monographs on the hornbills (1876-1882), pheasants (1872), ant thrushes (1863), grouse (1865) and birds of paradise (1873), as well as his volume of new and unillustrated birds of North America (1869).

Also included are such classic works as Edmund Lear's Parrots (1832), including 42 hand-colored plates by Lear, and William Lewin's Birds of Great Britain, with their Eggs (1789-1794; 7 folio volumes). Lewin drew and colored every plate in every volume-some 19,380 plates for the first edition subscription. It is considered by some the rarest of all British bird books.

One of the oldest volumes in the collection is Conrad Gesner's Historiae Animalium of 1555; our copy came from the library of Hans Sloane, President of the Royal Society. His collections were combined with those of Sir Robert Bruce Cotton and Edward Harley to form the British Museum. Willouhby's Ornitholgiae Libri Tres (1676), which contains the first scientific classification of birds, is included. We have celebrated books like Manetti's Ornithologia Methodice Digesta Atque Iconibus Aeneis (1767-1776; 5 folio volumes) which is considered a collector's classic despite its ornithological confusion, and Schlegel's Traite de Fauconnerie (1844-1853), probably the finest work on falconry ever produced. This volume was included in the Museum's recent Falcons exhibit. Most of the other great names in ornithology, including Selby, Sharpe, and Wilson, are also represented.

All of the major bird books by John Gould are included in the collection, including his Birds of Asia (1850-1883; 7 oversize folio volumes), Birds of Australia (1840-1848; 8 oversize folio volumes), Birds of Europe (1837; 5 oversize folio volumes), Birds of Great Britain (1873; 5 oversize folio volumes), Birds of New Guinea (1875-1888; 5 oversize folio volumes), A Century of Birds from the Himalaya Mountains (1831-1832; oversize folio volume), Icones Avium (1837-1838; 2 oversize folio volumes), Mammals of Australia (1863; 3 oversize folio volumes), and his illustrated monographs on the kangaroos, toucans, partridges and hummingbirds. This last volume is famous for a special technique used to simulate the iridescence of hummingbird feathers. Gold leaf was overpainted with transparent oil colors and varnish, resulting in spectacular illustrations.

Francois Levaillant's works are a part of the library, including his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux d'Afrique (1796-1812; 6 oversize folio volumes), Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux de Paradis et des Rolliers (1806-1807; 3 oversize folio volumes), Histoire Naturelle des Perroquets (1801-1805; 2 oversize folio volumes) and Histoire Naturelle d'une Partie d'Oiseaux Nouveaux et Rares de l-Amerique et des Indes (1801; oversize folio volume). Napoleon commissioned many extravagant publications to demonstrate the splendor of his empire-Levaillant's volumes were part of this grand policy.

Collections in the Mudge Library may be viewed by the public by appointment only. Those wishing to use museum collections for research (borrow specimens, take measurements, handle, etc.) must submit a formal request for review and approval.