Drawn from Paradise: The Discovery , Art and Natural History of the Birds of Paradise

This coffee table book is full of fascinating facts, extraordinary ideas and paintings imagining the birds alive but without knowledge of their behaviour. As these exotic skins with magnificent feathers arrived footless, legless and wingless it was assumed that these Birds of Paradise floated around the skies and artists had great difficulty working out how the feathers might be displayed in life. The profitable plume trade of 19th century, which encouraged fashionable women in the Western world to be as decorated as the New Guinea tribesmen, brought many unusual specimens to be examined scientifically.  The book is a delight to dip into and I became engrossed with interpretations made by early artists, naturalists and collectors of the skins of these birds. 

Book reviewed by Ursula Kit Price Moss