UT Library Calendar 2019 Features Pictures of Parrots

The University of Tartu Library Calendar for 2019 introduces the parrots as they are featured in François Levaillant’s book Histoire naturelle des perroquets (The Natural History of Parrots). 

The author of the book, François Levaillant (1753–1824), was the first scholar to study the birds of Africa. He was among the first to describe, in addition to the appearance of the birds also their behaviour and habitats and he illustrated his books with masterful colour tables.  

The birds selected for the calendar live mainly in South-America or Australia and Oceania. A couple of described species, the Cuban macaw (Ara tricolor) and the Carolina parakeet (Conuropsis carolinensis), have become extinct by now. Descriptions of the birds in the calendar are short and from today’s perspective.

Histoire naturelle des perroquets was published in Paris and Strasbourg in 1801-1805. The book is illustrated with 145 perfectly executed colour tables. The pictures of the birds were drawn by Jacques Barraband (app. 1767–1809), a French artist of nature, who used mounted bird specimens and skins of birds from museums and other collections as his models.

The calendar was compiled by Ave Teesalu from the Department of Manuscripts and Rare Books of the UT Library, and designed by Lilian Mengel. The editor was Malle Ermel. Margus Ots from the Estonian Ornithological Society and the UT Natural History Museum consulted on topics of ornithology.    

With its calendar for 2019, the UT Library continues the tradition of introducing its collections.  

UT Library calendar for 2019 can be bought at the information point of the UT Library and at the UT Library e-shop, the bookshop Krisostomus and the UT museum.