Richard L. Soffer, MD – Collecting Ornithological Books: A Personal Odyssey

Richard Soffer, retired professor of Molecular Biology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City, collected a remarkable and extensive series of ornithological books that span the centuries from the late Renaissance to modern times, with particular attention to works that feature the various methods and techniques that have been used to reproduce illustrations of birds. His books provide examples of every type of illustrative technique: hand painting, woodcut and wood engraving, etching and engraving, lithography and modern photomechanical methods. This collection forms the basis of the Richard L. Soffer Ornithology Collection, now housed at Amherst College.