The best overview of early canary history that I have found to date is a lengthy article by Rudolf Galloway taken from the book "Canaries, Hybrids and British Birds" edited by John Robson and S.H. Lewer, London 1899.  This contains a detailed survey of all the historical sources on the origins of the canary as far back as 1555 A.D.  It also contains two 'lists' of existing canary varieties by the writers Hervieux de Chanteloup (Paris 1713) and Eleazar Albin (London 1759).  Hervieux's List, taken from his book 'Nouveaux Traite aux Serins' describes 29 specific varieties of canary known to the French in 1713. Hervieux was 'gouverneur des serins' to 'Madame la Princesse' at the French court of that time.

Albin's List contains just seven.

You can download the full text from the file below.

Canary History Document
 
 

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