Selections from George Edwards' A natural history of uncommon birds : with additional watercolors and engravings by Eleazar Albin.
Published / Created:
England, approximately 1746.
Physical Description:
1 volume (53 leaves, with blanks) : illustrations ; 30 cm
Collection:
Rare Books and Manuscripts
Copyright Status:
Copyright Undetermined
Related Content:
For comparison, a digital copy of the published version of A natural history of uncommon birds (1743-1751) is available from the Digital Library for the Decorative Arts and Material Culture
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/DLDecArts.NatHistEd01
Classification:
Archives & Manuscripts
Notes:
"In contrast to Eleazar Albin, who was first and foremost an artist, George Edwards (1694-1773) has been described as 'the father of British ornithology' ... Edwards engraved and etched his own plates, having been taught to do so by the first real illustrator of North American birds, Mark Catesby ... He was an acute observer and skilled at accurately describing birds new to science: a mark of this is that Linnaeus used his descriptions to name about 350 bird species ... Although his birds are more varied in posture, and more lively and rounded than those of Albin and his daughter, the style of engraving favoured by Edwards, with shading composed of many minute lines very close together, made them look as if they were clothed in fur rather than feathers."--Elphick, Jonathan. Birds: the art of ornithology (2008).
Contents:
The Edwards selections are as follows. As there is some variation between the titles on the plates and the titles which head the text, both are given here, with the plate title following the text title when different. Plate numbers are provided in manuscript for plates 65-102. -- 2. The king of the vultures -- 11. The little Indian King Fisher / small Kingfishers from East India natural size [with the date April 26, 1742, written in reverse, still readily visible in the lower right of the image, subsequently removed or quickly worn from the plate] -- 13. The Quan or Guan, so call'd in ye West-Indies / The Brasilian Jacupema of Marggrave -- 14. The Green-Wing'd Dove -- 18. The Solitary Sparrow -- 22. The Red-Belly'd Blue-Bird ... The Scarlet Locust / The blue flycatcher from Surinam -- 24. The Blue Red Breast -- 28. The Blue Throat Red Start -- 32. The Long Tail'd Red Humingbird ... The Little Brown Humingbird / The greater and lesser Huming Birds from Surinam -- 48. The Spurwinged Water Hen -- 65. The Grey Headed Green Woodpecker -- 67. The Peacock Pheasant from China -- 70. The red Legg'd Partridge from Barbary -- 75. The Triangular Spotted Pigeon -- 76. The Brown Indian Dove -- 101. The Summer Duck of Catesby -- 102. The Chinese Teal.
Subject Terms:
Edwards, George, 1694–1773. | Albin, Eleazar, active 1713–1759. | Birds -- Pictorial works. | Ornithology -- Pictorial works. | Ornithological illustration. | Birds in art. | Ornithologists -- Great Britain. | Animal painters -- Great Britain.
Form/Genre:
Engravings -- Hand-colored. | Watercolors.
Contributors:
Edwards, George, 1694–1773. Natural history of uncommon birds. Selections. | Albin, Eleazar, active 1713–1759, artist. | Pratley, H. W., former owner.