In 1994, the late Joachim Schuette, together with photographers Josef Wolters and Jospeph Stach constructed and published a most important text upon pigeons in the German language entitled "Handbuch Der TaubenRassen - die TaubenRassen Der Welt" (Handbook Of Pigeon Breeds - The Pigeon Breeds Of The World). Altho the text, due to the extensiveness of the Domestic Pigeon as a race, could not be all things to all breeds, the work is a modern masterpiece on the subject of Domestic Pigeons that has no equal in history. Naturally, the book became famous in a few short years and gained admirers around the world.

Unfortunately, the text is in German and therefore cannot be used to best advantage by most English speaking fanciers. It became clear that the text was needed in this day and age, and many Western fanciers stared in amazement at the text that portrayed so many breeds that they had not yet heard of, let alone seen in life before. Rumors circulated of a much needed English edition, but such an edition never appeared, possibly due to the death of Schuette in 1997.

A great need has been had for an English edition.

In 1999, Yuri Schaposhnikov of Moscow painstakingly scanned the entire text with its photos and uploaded it onto the internet for the world to have access to.

In late 2000, K.D. Spurling formed the "German Handbuch Project" to properly translate the text into the English language for the benefit of the English speaking fancier. It is the intent of the project to accurately translate the entire text from German to English and to make the translation
available to all fanciers in the hopes of promoting a greater understanding of pigeons, in particular the rare breeds, among all fanciers.

The German Handbuch Project is composed of a handfull of dedicated fanciers who are dilligently
working to make a full translation of the text a reality with time. We are presently still seeking some assistance from any fanciers who speaks adequate German & English who would like to give
their time to assist with this project. If you are interested in joining the project, please e-mail us at

What follows is the complete text in German and the existing English translations that are available at this time.

Please add a link from your site to us on the front of your page so that others have easy access to the text and photos from your website.