Pasta For Nightingales : A 17th-century handbook of bird-care and folklore

'A charming 17th-century Italian treatise now presented in English. . . . Cassiano dal Pozzo [commissioned the text and] illustrations that appear here, beautiful and precise watercolors showing birds selected for their availability and their tolerance of captivity: buntings, starlings, kingfishers and, yes, nightingales. Text and drawing together take us to the dawn of ornithology' - Wall Street Journal

A beautiful book of early bird care - an English translation of Olina's Uccelliera - one of the earliest studies in ornithology

Cassiano dal Pozzo, now celebrated as one of the most important art patrons of the seventeenth century, commissioned a number of exquisite studies of birds as part of his famous ‘Paper Museum’. In 1622 the lawyer and ornithologist Giovanni Pietro Olina used these drawings, which are now kept in the Royal Library at Windsor Castle, as the basis for the illustrations in his Uccelliera.

Pasta for Nightingales combines Cassiano’s original artwork with selections from the first modern translation of Olina’s text. It includes such enchanting insights as the idea that robins suffered from dizziness and that the hoopoe overindulged in grapes until it became ‘dazed and half-drunk.’ However, it also includes much fascinating early natural history and ornithological observation – as well as the secret recipe for pasta to keep your nightingale happy and encourage it to sing.

A delightful book for bird lovers.

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• Hardcover: 144 pages | 106 illustrations
• Date published: April 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN: 978-1909741492
• Product Dimensions: 20.5 x 20 cm