Extinct Boids

Cartoonist and national treasure Ralph Steadman's unique take on a variety of extinct birds ... When Ceri Levy asked Ralph Steadman to produce one piece of art representing an extinct bird for a recent exhibition, Ghosts of Gone Birds, Ralph said 'yes'. Then 'yes' again ... and again ... and again. An astonishing 100 paintings later, Extinct Boids was born. Ralph got carried away by the birds, taking Ceri with him ... this book details the discoveries they made on their travels through the savage seas of extinction. After stumbling on the previously hidden Toadstool Island, where the extinct birds of the world live on in secretive harmony, the duo spent nearly a year in close proximity to a host of fantastical avian creatures. Ralph documents them all in this series of remarkable paintings, featuring unique interpretations of well-known birds such as the Great Auk, Passenger Pigeon and Dodo, along with less familiar members of the feathersome firmament - Snail-eating Coua, for example, or the Red-moustached Fruit Dove - and a variety of bizarre beasts including the Gob Swallow, the Long-legged Shortwing and the Needless Smut. All are captured in a riot of expression and colour, with a slice of trademark Steadman humour. Based on emails, diary entries and phone conversations, Ceri's accompanying text provides a running commentary, detailing the unfolding madness behind the creation of each piece in Ralph's extraordinary work. Things got tough as the pair discovered just how many amazing birds have been lost from our world forever. "But," as Ralph said "it did, after all, make a nice change from drawing politicians". Bloomsbury is proud to publish this unique title.

Table of Contents:
His Nibship in the Midship HMS Steadmanitania Ghosts of Gone Birds So I said, then he said, then… Japanese Egret Great Auk North Island Giant Moa Choiseul Crested Pigeon Black Mamo Guadalupe Caracara Mauritius Owl Rodrigues Solitaire Oahu ‘O’o Jamaican Red Macaw Liverpool Pigeon Purple Gallinule South Telly Chat Chatham Rail North Island Takahe Pallas’s Cormorant Dodo Blue Slut Rodrigues Blue-black Throstle Lesser-blotted Bitwing Mauritius Night Heron Mechanical Botanical Spunt Imperial Woodpecker Martinique Amazon Parrot King Island Shtum Orange-beaked Mwit Huia Red-footed Booby Bonin Wood Pigeon St Helena Giant Hoopoe Red-moustached Fruit Dove Snail-eating Coua Ula-’ai-Hawane Greater Amakihi Biship’s ‘O’o Honduras Banana ‘O’o How a Bird is Born Pale Blue Piddle Carolina Parakeet North Island Piopio South Island Piopio Red Rail Moor Pen Needless Smut Réunion Sacred Ibis Quink Spundwick’s Fret Cuban Macaw Labrador Duck Mauritius Blue Pigeon Dusky Seaside Sparrow Lord Howe Swamphen Bar-winged Rail Norfolk Island Kaka Ex-Stink Boid Blue Lidwink Blackened Thront Gould’s Emerald Aldabra Brush Warbler Stephens Island Wren Grand Cayman Thrush Robust White-eye Splindwilf Orange-beaked One-wing Jurassic Atitlán Grebe Laughing Owl Double-banded Argus Lanai Hookbill Humpbacked Blue Mult York Island Fright Chatham Island Bellbird Dieffenbach’s Rail Lord Howe Gerygone Robust White-eye Guam Flycatcher Aldabra Brush Warbler Blue-winded Gasp New Zealand Quail Wizened Twit White-winged Sandpiper Auckland Island Merganser Nasty Tern Gob Swallow Once Bittern Lousy Grudgian Mauritian Shelduck New Zealand Little Bittern Colombian Grebe Mascarene Parrot Channel-beaked Murdoch Cuckoo Broad-billed Parrot Spotted Wingless Strut Mottled Splatwink Angered Maggot Sleet Crested Honeycreeper Pueo ‘Apapane Maui Creeper Omao Common ‘Amakihi Palila Hawaiian I’iwi Hawaiian Ariapola’au Lanai Oloma’o Greater Koa Finch Kona Grosbeak Lanai Hookbill Kioea Laysan Rail Hawaiian Rail Bishop’s ‘O’o Hawaiian Crow Canary Islands Oystercatcher The White-winged Gonner Tanna Ground-dove Spittle’s Yerk Northern Bald Ibis Lesser Peruvian Blue-beaked Blotswerve White-winged Feathered Dinosaur Tristan Moorhen Hawaii Mamo The man who hated birdshit Tahiti Rail Réunion Gallinule White Gallinule Guadalupe Ponce Oceanic Eclectus Parrot Kakawahie Lesser-blotted Kamao Guadeloupe Amazon Parrot Oahu Nukupu’u Lesser ‘Akialoa Purple Swamphen White Gallinule Tahiti Sandpiper Yooo-eeee Bluebreast Dickie Bird Nested Lemon Tweet Jail Bird Yuleiptopede Nativitaurus Willychick Tweet Long-legged Shortwing Passenger Pigeon Orange Thronk Pink Twisted Thrisp Branch Fling Schwing Pink Rotten Scrawl Random Blotted Slumley Splattered Shag Desert Bluebeak Pink-headed Duck Giant Elephant Bird Green Twot Yellow Twet Pink Twit ‘Smy Egg Acknowledgements

About the Author :
Ralph Steadman was born in 1936. He began his career as a cartoonist, and through the years has diversified into many creative fields. Ralph collaborated with Dr Hunter S. Thompson in the birth of 'gonzo' journalism, with Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas; he has illustrated classics such as Alice in Wonderland, Treasure Island and Animal Farm, and written and illustrated his own books, which include Sigmund Freud, I Leonardo and The Big I Am. Steadman is also a printmaker, and has travelled the world's vineyards, culminating in his books The Grapes of Ralph, Untrodden Grapes and Still Life with Bottle. Ceri Levy is a film-maker, who started out making music videos before moving into the world of documentaries. His works include Bananaz, a film about the inner machinations of the group Gorillaz, and the forthcoming The Bird Effect; he is also co-curator of Ghosts of Gone Birds, and therefore a crucial cog in the boids' creation myth.

Review :
Not since Adam named the beasts ... has anyone so enriched the language of ornithology as Mr. Steadman and his co-author, Ceri Levy, in Extinct Boids A characteristically madcap and often very funny voyage through the dark tale of extinction While Steadman gives us paintings of the dodo, the great auk and other familiar lost species in burning, unforgettable colours, we also find the nasty tern, the wizened twit, the dickie bird, the jail bird, and the lesser Peruvian blue-beaked blotswerve. The film-maker and conservationist Ceri Levy anchors it all in sanity with an appealing running commentary. Every turn of the page reveals a bird brought to life in Steadman's inimitable style. Ralph's remarkable paintings... pay a tribute to some of the most beautiful creatures ever to have lived. Each species is splashed across the page in Steadman’s unique style, accompanied by a witty and informative commentary by Levy The illustrator Ralph Steadman has used his weird imagination to conjure up colourful, faded feathered friends. The national treasure that is Ralph Steadman utilises his trademark cartoon-style to document those “ghost birds” whose demise stands as an indictment of mankind’s destructive tendencies. A riotous flight of imagination with a serious message