Buller’s Birds Re-imagined

150 years on from the original landmark study of New Zealand’s birdlife, Buller’s Birds were re-imagined and J G Keulemans re-discovered in Geoff Norman Buller’s Birds of New Zealand. 

This revision and revisiting of Walter Buller’s original ornithological study includes exquisitely reproduced water-colours by JG Keulemans, the most renowned ornithological artist of the 19th century.  

In this Going West session from 2013, Geoff Norman is joined in entertaining and enlightening conversation by writer, satirist, ornithologist and journalist Steve Bruanias, author of How to Watch a Bird. 

Many of the birds reproduced in Norman’s book are now extinct; all we have of them are snippets in oral history, scraps of texts, a few feathers and the odd stuffed carcass in a Museum. And, of course, Walter Buller’s book.

It was incredibly popular, especially from the second edition, due to Keulemans’ illustrations - though these were poorly reproduced through the printing process of chromolithography. 

Norman’s new edition of Buller's Birds of New Zealand includes the complete works of J.G. Keulemans, exquisitely reproduced from the original paintings held in the British Museum and re-discovered by Norman while on a trip to England.

Geoff Norman has a background in science and environmental studies, works in the publication business and is a keen tramper.  His Buller’s Birds edition published by Te Papa Press has been reprinted three times and won a raft of awards.  His latest book Birdstories: A history of the birds of New Zealand was a finalist in the 2019 Ockham NZ Book Awards.

Te Papa Press were able to secure the services of bird lover Stephen Fry to write the foreword for Norman’s book. In it, he heaps praise upon the importance of the book and its place in history:

 “There can be no finer example of the pinnacle of Victorian cataloguing than the stupendously fine work of Buller and Keulemans in their monumental collaboration… This wondrous, perfectly fashioned masterpiece marks a kind of dividing line between the old New Zealand of slaughter and extinction and the new New Zealand, which is one of the most conservation-minded, eco-aware and environmentally progressive nations on earth.”

“I am dizzy with pride at being offered this opportunity to introduce it to you. This precious and beautiful book is a perfect celebration of the precious and beautiful birds of the precious and beautiful islands of Aotearoa.”