GREEN, John d (1908-1991). The Big Book of Birds of Britain. London: Ormond Yard Press, 2017.

Large format limited edition, number 10 of 750 copies signed by photographer John d Green to front pastedown, featuring approximately 200 photographs of the girls who made London swing, including a close-up colour portrait of Pattie Boyd on the front cover. This copy has been additionally and uniquely signed by cover 'bird' Pattie Boyd to front pastedown. Original pictorial boards, custom printed slipcase featuring a colour portrait of Pattie Boyd.
24 x 18 in. (60 x 45 cm.)

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Lot Essay

A sequel to John d Green’s classic 1967 Birds of Britain book, The Big Book of Birds of Britain contains a wealth of previously unpublished photographs, including an entirely new species of bird, not included in the original book.

Pattie Boyd: One of the seminal books of the sixties was the coffee-table Birds of Britain, a collection of photographs of the girls whom photographer John D. Green thought epitomized the decade. I was on the front cover and most of my friends were in it. The introduction was written by Anthony Haden-Guest, who, I thought, had painted a perfect picture to set the scene:

"Consider them [English girls] now, Resplendent! Sauntering, strolling, sitting, driving around the chosen streets and squares of Central London... warm vortices of flesh, supercool in sunglasses and flaming in a rag-bag kaleido-scope of stuffs and styles. Swathed in tulle and velvet and lace, sheathed in plastic and poly-vinyl, silk and satin, throw-away paper shirts and everlasting metal-alloy dresses. Like Venus in furs, or Hell’s Angels in leather, they shimmer past, in Courreges, in Vietnam combat-kit, in Gary Cooper denims, in antique Hussar Regimentals...Grandmother’s formals swoop to the ground in a scarlet Niagara, or the hem disappears into a swirl of miniskirt, beneath which limbs flicker like jack-knives and glimmer like trout."