A Monograph of the Meropidae, or Family of the Bee-eaters. London: published by the author at 6 Tenterden Street, 1884-86. Contemporary three-quarters morocco gilt. 15 x 11 1/2 inches (28 x 29 cm); xix, 141 pp., with 34 hand-colored lithographed plates printed by Hanhart, heightened with gum arabic by J. G. Keulemans, with the prospectus laid-in offering an additional copy of plate XXXIV. The binding worn with the headcap pulled, rubbing to the spine, joints and corners, old shelf markings to foot of spine, institutional markings within including labels to the endpapers, a small blind-stamp to the title and a small stamp with ink notation to the verso, the plates generally clean.

Dresser's three major works comprise his monograph of the bee-eaters, his similar treatise on the rollers and his monumental study of the birds of Europe. Bee-eaters was issued in five parts and it is thought that no more than 250 sets were produced. Dresser notes in the introduction that most species of this rare bird are predominately found in Ethiopia. Fine Bird Books, p. 72; Nissen IVB 269; Wood p. 324; Zimmer p. 178.