Browsing Beautiful Bird Books in Britain

We just flew home from our London vacation. In the city's well stocked bookstores (Magma on Earlham street was one of our favorites), we have come across some remarkable illustrated books that I would like to recommend to all bird lovers:

Counting Birds, by the British illustrator Alice Melvin.

A charming counting book for small children populated by peacocks, geese, pheasants, and other familiar birds.

Counting Birds, by the British illustrator Alice Melvin.

A charming counting book for small children populated by peacocks, geese, pheasants, and other familiar birds.

... and finally, this was the first time I held Charley Harper's Birds and Words in my hands. I have been in love with Harper's "minimal realist" art ever since I discovered it on the web. This gorgeous reprint of the 1974 original includes 61 bird illustrations, fifty of which first appeared in Ford Times magazine during the 1950's (check out a well researched article on the Charley Harper website if you'd like to find out more). I will have to buy it on the web, since our luggage was already too heavy – I do hope this is the last time we fly low cost!