[Illustrated by Vatagin and Komarov] Buturlin, Geptner, Dementiev et al. Birds (Ptitsy). Series: Animal World of the USSR. First Edition, 1940. In Russian.

Бутурлин, С. А., Гептнер, В. Г., Дементьев, Г. П., Житков, Б. М., Огнев, С. И., Промптов, А. Н., Туров, С. С., Формозов, А. Н., Шульпин, Л. М. Птицы / под редакцией проф. А. Н. Формозова и проф. Б. М. Житкова ; рисунки В. А. Ватагина и А. Н. Комарова ; переплет, форзац и титул Л. Литвака. Серия: Животный мир СССР. Библиотека юного натуралиста. Первое издание.
Москва ; Ленинград : Детиздат ЦК ВЛКСМ, 1940. 400 с. : ил., 32 л. ил. ; 23,2 x 30,8 см.
Твердый издательский переплет. Тираж 10 000 экз.
Переплет хороший: потертые кромки и корешок. Блок хороший.
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Buturlin, S. A., Geptner, V. G., Dementiev, G. P., Zhitkov, B. M., Ognev, S. I., Promptov, A. N., Turov, S. S., Formozov, A. N., Shulpin, L. M. Birds / edited by Prof. A. N. Formozov and Prof. B. M. Zhitkov ; illustrations by V. A. Vatagin and A. N. Komarov ; binding, endpapers and title page by L. Litvak. Series: Animal World of the USSR. Library of the Young Naturalist. First edition.
Moscow ; Leningrad : Detizdat of the Central Committee of the Komsomol, 1940. 400 pp. : illustrated, 32 plates ; 23.2 x 30.8 cm.
Hardcover, publisher's binding. Print run of 10,000 copies.
Binding good: edges and spine rubbed. Text block good.

Birds was the first volume of a planned four-volume series, Animal World of the USSR, issued in the Library of the Young Naturalist by the Children's Literature publisher of the Komsomol Central Committee. According to the preface, the series was meant to give scientifically sound but accessible descriptions of the most important animals of the Soviet Union, and the birds were prepared first. The book is the work of nine leading zoologists and ornithologists, including Sergei Buturlin, Georgi Dementiev, Vladimir Geptner and Alexander Formozov, who also edited it with Boris Zhitkov. The text opens with chapters on why birds matter, how they live and where they migrate, and then runs through the orders from passerines to game birds, with a closing chapter on protecting and attracting birds and an alphabetical index of Russian names. The illustrations are by Vasily Vatagin and Alexey Komarov, two of the best-known Soviet animal painters. The colour plates by Komarov carry dates of 1936 and 1937. The binding, endpapers and title page were designed by L. Litvak, and the endpapers show a flight of silhouetted birds. The print run was 10,000 copies, and the series was cut short by the war. The volume will interest collectors of Soviet natural-history publishing and animal illustration, ornithologists, and libraries of children's literature.