Lars Jonsson´s first book

Believe it or not, but this is Lars Jonsson's first book, the original Swedish edition of "Birds of Wood, Park and Garden". It was published in Sweden in 1976, and is both written and illustrated by Jonsson himself. At the time, the young painter was only 24 years old. A few years earlier, his application to the Art Academy in Stockholm had been turned down! Considering that Jonsson went on to become the Audubon of the 20th century, I sure wonder why? Even in this early book, his genius is clearly visible...

My main problem with "Fåglar i naturen: Skog, park, trädgård" is that the birds featured in it are so, well, damn boring. These are the birds every Swede sees outside his window from childhood onwards: sparrows, finches, crows, magpies, thrushes... OK, magpies are quite cool (they are the parrots of the North!), but otherwise, I long to see some stray albatross or thunderbird gently circling around my local shopping mold, LOL.

Unfortunately, it seems that Jonsson's first book is unavailable at the present time from our favourite vendor, Amazon. Don't worry, the sparrows will be here next year as well...