BIRDS OF THE HUMBER DISTRICT [Provenance - Knockgray, Galloway, Clark-Kennedy, Alexander William Maxwell Clark Kennedy (1851 -1894) and later passed to Francis Jourdain]

London: John Van Voorst, 1872. Book. Illus. by Keulemans, J. G. frontispiece. Very Good. Hardcover. First Edition. 12mo. pp. xii 231 pages; frontispiece plate"A Flamborough Trophy, Fulmar Petrel..." by Keulemans. Green cloth boards, very good with a little general wear. Contents clean and tight, some foxing to the endpapers, on the reverse of the front free endpaper are the signatures of Alexander William Clark Kennedy of the Cold Stream guards 1873 and the initials of Rev. F. C. R Joudain 1899. A good book with a significant provenance firstly belonging to A. W. Clark Kennedy and later given to Rev. Francis Jourdain, author of books such as A Handbook of British Birds by Kirkman and Joudain Clark-Kennedy, Alexander William Maxwell (1851 -1894) Alexander William Maxwell Clark- Kennedy was born at Rochester, Kent. He attended school at Aldershot, and then at Eton College. He married Hon. Lettice Lucy Hewitt, daughter of James, 4th Viscount Lifford (d. 1939) in Donegal in 1875, with whom he had five sons and two daughters. In 1867 he inherited the family estate of Knockgray in Galloway. While still at Eton, at the age of sixteen, he wrote The birds of Berkshire and Buckinghamshire: a contribution to the natural history of the two counties (Eton, 1868), which proved very popular. Following Eton he joined the Coldstream Guards, rising to the rank of Captain. He continued his interests in hunting, shooting and fishing, and was a member of several societies and associations, becoming a Fellow of the Linnaean Society, and the Antiquarian Society of Scotland. He also penned To the Arctic regions and back in six weeks : being a summer tour to Lapland and Norway : with notes on sport and natural history (London, 1878), and Robert the Bruce: a poem, historical and romantic (London, 1884). Ref: Ballance p203; Freeman 817; Mullens & Swann, p.144..