Bird Guide Part 1, Water Birds East, of the Rockies
Book title: Bird Guide Part 1, Water Birds East, of the Rockies
Author: Chester A. Reed
Editor: Charles K. Reed
Publication year: 1910
Copyright: 1906, 1910
Printer: A. M. Eddy de Albion, New York
Format: 3 x 5 ½ inches
Type of cover: glossy cardboard, soft leather
Number of pages: 240 pages
Retail price in 1910: 0.50$ (glossy cardboard cover)
0.75$ (soft leather cover)
Mailing cost: included
Chester A. Reed continued the re-edition of his Bird Guides using the 4-Color Process printing. The book kept the same presentation and structure as the one published in 1906. It shows a single drawing of a bird species per page and focuses on the description of the male, as well as the female if it was different from the male. The book also provides the characteristics of the nest and the bird’s area of dispersion.
The “Bird Guide Part 1” was less popular than the “Bird Guide Part 2, Land Birds East of the Rockies.” We can explain the difference by the fact that it only described one species by drawing for shore birds and water birds, which didn’t help to identify all species. In many cases, people had to compare the birds among themselves to better understand the different characteristics leading to their identification. In addition, the technology in binoculars was still not well adapted to long distance observation.
In 1912, with the publication of the book “American Game Birds,” Chester produced drawings showing many similar bird species in the same frame. He published his third “Bird Guide” the same way, which marked the beginning of the “Field Guides” as we know them today. This third book, “Western Bird Guide, Birds of the Rockies and West to the Pacific,” was published in 1913.