Enrico Hillyer Giglioli, Iconografia della avifauna italica ovvero descrizioni e tavole illustranti le specie di uccelli che trovansi in Italia, Firenze, 1906
In 1876, Enrico Hillyer Giglioli, professor of zoology and comparative anatomy, sets up the Central Collection of Italian Vertebrate Animals at the Museum of Natural History of Florence. The collection greatly influenced his scientific work. The ornithological section in particular, has been the the object of notable works that testify the image that scholars had of these species at the turn of the Twentieth century.
Giglioli begins to work on his Iconografia della Avifauna Italica in 1879. It is an ambitious editorial project remained unfinished which had the purpose of a representation from life of all species of birds of the Italian fauna.
The work was intended to be published in 80 monthly issues of which only 54 saw the light. Every issue came with five etchings taken from the hand drawn and coloured illustrations by Alberto Manzella. In spite of its scientific base, the author endeavours to use a less academic style in order to give room to clarifications stemmed from the ornithological debates going on at the time and to respond to criticism raised against him.