The A B C Book of Birds

The A B C Book of Birds was published in 1916 by Stecher Litho Co. of Rochester, New York, with vibrant chromolithograph drawings by Will F. Stecher and charming verse by Carolyn S. Hodgman. This little children’s alphabet book sits right at the crossroads of early-20th-century printing, natural history, and nursery education. It contains illustrations and descriptions of 27 birds from all over the world—parrots, poultry, songbirds, seabirds, and a few decidedly exotic species that most children would only ever see in books or menageries. The catchy prose and turn of phrase read like a grandmother’s voice: gentle, rhythmic, and just a bit old-fashioned, reflecting the language and sensibilities of the 1910s. You can easily imagine small hands turning these pages in a parlor lit by gas or early electric lamps, adults sounding out the alphabet while children memorize bird names they might never actually see in real life.By 1916, alphabet books were already a well-established educational tradition. Since the 19th century, illustrated ABCs had been used to teach not only letters but also morals, geography, nature, and national identity. This book participates in that tradition but shifts the focus entirely to birds, pulling its subjects from both American backyards and far-off places like the tropics and the polar regions. The choice of birds—some familiar, some legendary, and even one extinct (the Dodo)—mirrors a moment when popular interest in natural history was booming. Museums, traveling exhibitions, and bird clubs were growing in popularity, and the Audubon movement was beginning to reshape public attitudes about wildlife and conservation. Against this backdrop, The A B C Book of Birds would have been both entertaining and quietly educational: an introduction to the wider natural world, packaged as a bright little alphabet primer.Stecher Litho Co. of Rochester was part of a thriving American printing and lithography industry in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Firms like Stecher specialized in colorful commercial work—trade cards, calendars, advertising, and children’s books—using advanced chromolithographic techniques to produce bright, layered colors that earlier generations simply couldn’t achieve. Will F. Stecher’s illustrations in this book show off that capability: strong, flat areas of color, crisp outlines, and a decorative style that would reproduce well on modest paper stocks yet still look rich on the page. The publisher’s name on the cover would have signaled to buyers that they were getting something visually special, not just plain text on cheap paper.Carolyn S. Hodgman’s verse pairs neatly with Stecher’s illustrations, giving each bird a personality and a role in the story of the alphabet. Her lines are concise, sing-song, and easy to memorize—exactly the sort of verse that would have been recited aloud in schoolrooms and at home. The poem runs in sequence:

A is for ALBATROSS
Strong wings has he,
Following ships as they
Sail o’er the seaB is for the famed BIRD OF PARADISE rare –
Beautiful creature
Whose plumes Women wear.C for the COCKATOO with its queer crest,
Just like the Indian’s war-bonnet best.D for the DODO, no more shall we meet,
See his hooked bill, and his short wings and feet!E for the EAGLE, our emblem of might,
Seeking his prey as he soars in his flight.F for FLAMINGO web-footed and red,
Long as his legs, fit for swamps where he’s bred.G for GOLDFINCH, with black and white wings,
Yellow his coat, and quite sweetly he sings.H for the HERON, which wades in the stream,
Neck as long as its legs, it would seem.I for IBIS, this cane, so we’re told,
Sacred was held by Egyptians of old.Jay is for JAY, such a chatter sad;
blue is the plumage in which he is clad.K for KINGFISHER, which serves to its brood,
fish which it catches each day for its food.L for the LYRE BIRD, a mimic so sharp,
Stately he stands, with a tail like a harp.M is for MACAW, with its harsh grating shriek,
Gorgeous its color, and funny its beak.N is for NIGHTINGALE, little and brown,
Singing his lay when the sun has gone down.O is for OWL,
Who is dazed by the light,
Daytime he sleeps, but he hunts in the night.P is for PELICAN – look at his beak! –
Storehouse for fish which he scoops from the creek.Q shows us here
A Quaint little QUAIL,
brown and quite speckled
And with a blunt tail.R for the ROBIN, the bird we know best,
Coming in Springtime, with his cheery red vest.S for the SWALLOW, who dips thro the air,
Building clay-nests ‘net the caves everywhere.T for the TANAGER, scarlet in hue,
Also TOUCAN, which is bright-colored too.U for UMBRELLA BIRD, flute-like his call,
Feathers it bears like an old parasol.V for the VULTURE, a carrion crow,
Ugly to look at, this scavenger low.W for WOODPECKER, tapper of trees.
Insects and Bugs seem his taste best to please.X is for XEMA, from lands to the snow,
far to the North for this gull we must go.Y is for YELLOW-THROAT, shrub are its home,
Calling “Which-way-sir?” to those who may roam.Z for SENAIDURA or Mourning Dove.

Within this simple sequence is a surprising slice of early-20th-century bird knowledge and fashion. The B for Bird of Paradise verse hints at the millinery trade—“Whose plumes Women wear”—a nod to a time when exotic feathers adorned hats and cloaks, even as conservationists were beginning to campaign against such practices. The Dodo, already long extinct by 1916, appears as a sort of ghost from the age of exploration, reminding readers that human activity can permanently erase species. The Ibis and its connection to ancient Egypt shows how children’s books often folded in bits of mythology and history alongside natural facts. X for Xema (a genus of gulls) signals that the creators were willing to reach into more technical or lesser-known terminology to keep the alphabet intact, even if most readers had never heard of such a bird.The mix of species—from backyard robins and goldfinches to faraway lyrebirds and umbrella birds—also reflects the global consciousness of the time. Ocean travel, illustrated magazines, and popular science writing were making the wider world feel more accessible. Children leafing through this book might never leave their hometowns, but they could “travel” through birds: to polar seas with the Xema gull, to South American rainforests with macaws and toucans, to European nights with the nightingale, and to symbolic realms with the eagle and ibis. It’s natural history filtered through the lens of empire, trade, and early mass media, condensed into a few rhymed lines and bright plates.I scanned this old book in 2016—corner accidentally bent over the page with the mourning dove—just before I fully burned out and stepped back for a while. It had never been in pristine condition; the wear on the covers and pages made it obvious that it had been much loved in its previous home. That very wear, though, speaks to its life as a working object rather than a stored collectible. You can almost reconstruct its journey: purchased as a gift, read aloud over and over, perhaps carried to school in a satchel, then passed down a generation or two until it finally landed in a box of “old books” at an estate sale or attic clean-out. By digitizing it, bent corner and all, I wanted to preserve not only the images and words but also the sense that this was a lived-with, handled, cherished piece of childhood.Today, the book lives on in two forms: as a complete high-resolution digital download and as individual art prints. You can download the entire book in high resolution (unwatermarked) here: ABC Book of Birds 1916 High Resolution Downloads. Each page has been carefully scanned so that the textures of the paper, the slight misregistrations of the lithography, and even the tiny imperfections of age are visible. These details are part of the charm; they mark this as a survivor from the era of chromolithographed children’s books, not a modern reproduction created from scratch.

Illustration inspired by a vintage bird alphabet book: two colorful macaws perch on a branch while a nightingale sings by greenery, all beneath a setting sun—reminiscent of scenes from Carolyn S. Hodgman's 1916 children’s book about birds.

An owl flies above an orange sun, and a pelican with a fish in its beak stands by water, echoing scenes from an antique bird illustration book or a 1916 children’s book about birds by Carolyn S. Hodgman.

Illustration of an owl flying at night and a pelican catching fish, with letters "O" and "P" highlighted.

Illustrated quail and robin with poems; large red letters "Q" and "R" beside each bird.

Illustration of a quail and a robin with short poems about each bird on a vintage book page.

Illustration of a swallow flying, a tanager, and a toucan, with large red letters S and T and short poems.

Illustration of a swallow flying, a red tanager, and a colorful toucan with poems describing each bird.

Illustrated birds for letters U, V, and W, with poems: Umbrella Bird, Vulture, and Woodpecker.

Illustrations from The A B C Book of Birds, a 1916 children’s book about birds by Carolyn S. Hodgman, show an umbrella bird, a vulture, and a woodpecker with brief descriptions beside each.

Illustrated vulture, crow, and woodpecker with letters V and W and short descriptive rhymes beside each bird.

Illustration of three birds with large red letters "X" and "Y" and accompanying rhymes about each bird.

Illustrated birds for letters X, Y, and Z with short rhymes; vintage, blue and red ink on aged paper.

A book cover titled "A.B.C. Book of Birds" with an illustration of storks and a nest in front of a red sun.

Worn cover of "A.B.C. Book of Birds" featuring storks and a red sun, labeled "Stork.

Cover of "The A B C Book of Birds" featuring an illustrated stork with chicks in a nest, perfect for fans of vintage bird alphabet books.

Illustrated cover of the vintage bird alphabet book "ABC Book of Birds," a 1916 children’s book about birds by Carolyn S. Hodgman, featuring colorful parrots and finches among green leaves.

Colorful vintage book cover titled "ABC Book of Birds" with illustrations of two birds on leafy branches, from the antique bird illustration book by Carolyn S. Hodgman.

Three colorful birds with vibrant plumage perch on branches, surrounded by leaves and small flying insects.

Three colorful birds perch on branches, surrounded by green leaves and tiny insects, reminiscent of illustrations from a vintage bird alphabet book like The A B C Book of Birds.

Illustrated cover of "The A B C Book of Birds," an antique bird illustration book by Carolyn S. Hodgman, with colorful parrots perched on leafy branches.

Illustrated cover of "A.B.C. Book of Birds" with colorful parrots and leaves.

Three colorful birds perch on branches, surrounded by leaves and small insects, against a yellow and blue background.

Cover of "ABC Book of Birds" showing an auk bird standing on a rock, with two smaller birds in the background.

Cover of "A.B.C. Book of Birds" featuring an illustration of an auk standing on a rock.

A drawing of an auk bird on a rock with two more auks and the sea in the background.

Alphabet page with an albatross flying and a bird of paradise below, both illustrated with text describing each bird.

Illustration of birds, including a bird of paradise with long tail plumes and a verse about its beautiful feathers.

Vintage illustration from The A B C Book of Birds shows an albatross in flight and a bird of paradise, with poetic text—perfect for antique bird illustration book collectors and fans of vintage bird scans.

Illustrations of a cockatoo with a colorful crest and a dodo bird, alongside a rhyming poem about each.

Colorful illustration of a cockatoo in flight above a dodo bird standing on grass, from a vintage book.

An eagle soars above and three flamingos stand below with large letters E and F, and a short poem beside each.

An eagle flies above flamingos standing in water, with large red letters "E" and "F" and a yellow sun in the background.

Illustrated page from a vintage bird alphabet book shows a goldfinch above and herons wading below, with rhyming text for each bird.

Illustration of two herons wading in water and a bird perched above, with text describing the heron.

An illustrated alphabet page with an ibis and a jay, ancient ruins, and poetic text about each bird.

Vintage illustration of two cranes and a blue jay, with a poem and red sun in the background.

Illustrated kingfisher in flight and lyrebird with fanned tail, each with a rhyming verse and large letters K and L.

Illustrations of a kingfisher flying and a lyrebird standing with a tail shaped like a harp, on a colorful page.

Colorful illustrations of a macaw and a nightingale with poems and large "M" and "N" letters on the page.

I’ve also done the Photoshop work to separate out each bird for 27 unique print creations, available individually as prints—perfect for a child’s playroom, a nursery, a classroom, or simply as classic wall art for anyone who loves birds and vintage illustration. Pulled out of their original alphabet context, these birds become small standalone portraits: the solemn owl, the proud eagle, the curious woodpecker, the shy quail. Framed in a grid, they echo antique natural-history wall charts; displayed one by one, they feel like little windows into a more whimsical, illustrated past. In a way, they continue the book’s original mission—using beauty and curiosity to teach and delight—only now they do it on the walls instead of between covers.In the broader history of children’s publishing, The A B C Book of Birds represents a moment when education, art, and commerce were tightly intertwined. Publishers like Stecher Litho Co. produced books that were affordable enough for middle-class families but richly illustrated enough to feel special. Authors like Carolyn S. Hodgman wrote in a style that balanced sweetness with a hint of didacticism, guiding children not only through letters but through a particular view of the natural world. A century later, revisiting this book lets us glimpse how children learned their ABCs, how they were introduced to ideas about nature, and how illustration and verse were used to pull distant landscapes and creatures into the everyday life of a child.

So while at first glance it’s “just” a bird alphabet book from 1916, The A B C Book of Birds is also a small artifact of printing history, of early conservation-era attitudes, of women’s fashion and feather trade, of popular science and global imagination. Preserving and sharing it—page by page, bird by bird—keeps that whole tangle of stories alive.