Sydney: Keston foreign bird Farm, 1934-1938. Octavo, coloured and uncoloured plates. Publisher's blue cloth with gilt cockatoo, a very good set, scarce.

The Keston Bird Farm, established by Edward Boosey in the 1920's was a very successful operation until World War Two and beyond. Although the business imported birds its main interest was in bird breeding and budgerigars were a staple. Boosey originally worked for the Duke of Bedford. He was a prolific writer and his best known book is Foreign bird keeping: forty years' experience in their breeding and management, first published 1956. The Foreigner is a delightful little publication with a lot of very interesting material. A very scarce sixth volume was published in 1939.