Birds: An Anthology

Judging the selection of material for an anthology is pointless - each is as individual as a Nightingale's song, shaped by the taste and experience of the compiler. However, any anthology should aspire to serendipity and digestibility, to inform and inspire, and be attractive enough to make you want to dip in. The material selected for this book draws on the Bodleian's extensive archives and ranges from Ovid to Helen Macdonald and Simon Barnes, though most comes from the 16th to early 20th Centuries. Some old favourites are here (Hawk roosting - again) and many, but not all, of the authors will be immediately familiar. The selection, then, is less diverse than it might have been; only a smattering are from outside Europe or North America, the only translated piece is the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, and there are few female voices. What it lacks in serendipity it makes up for in digestibility. Most entries are short, some only five or six lines, few are much longer than a page; so, easy to dip into, but frequently leaving a desire for more - the sources are signposted for those who wish to delve deeper. The book is attractively packaged with clear type, mostly uncluttered pages, and is leavened with some distinctive engravings from the 1920s by Eric Fitch Dalglish, although these won't be to everyone's taste.

The acid test: would I be happy to receive it as gift? Absolutely - it would be a fine way to divert oneself with a dram in front of the fire on a dark winter's night.

Book reviewed by Rob Robinson