COLLECTED FIELD STUDIES OF BIRDS...

George Morrison Reid Henry, (British,1891-1983)
Collected field studies of birds, including crows, orioles, tailor birds, hoopoe, tree sparrow, greenfinches, including many Ceylonese subjects
many signed, inscribed ‘Columbo’ and many annotated with identifications of birds and dated variously ‘1909-31’ many pencil, some with watercolor on paper, bound in cloth with corners in darker leather, with ‘FIELD SKETCHES/OF BIRDS/ BY G.M.REID HENRY/ 1891-1983’ tooled in gilt on the spine
15 x 8 in.; and smaller the album 20 3/8 x 18 ¾ in
284 drawings in total, some of which are on verso

A very fine collection of ornithological studies of Ceylonese birds, many with inscriptions, and dating from 1909-1931.

GEORGE MORRISON REID HENRY (BRITISH,1891-1983)

George Morrison Reid Henry was an entomologist and ornithologist in Sri Lanka. He was born at Goatfell Estate, Kandapola, where his father, Charles Reid Henry, managed tea estates.

One of eleven children was educated at home by his older sisters and showed early talent as an artist. At the age of 16, Henry obtained his first job as a draughtsman and a laboratory assistant in the Ceylon Company of Pearl Fishers. In 1910 he became a draughtsman at the Colombo Museum and was trained by Dr. Joseph Pearson, Director of the Colombo Museum, a zoologist and marine biologist. In July 1913, he was promoted to the newly created post of Assistant in Systematic Entomology at the Colombo Museum, a position he held until his retirement in 1946.