Details
Prideaux John Selby (1788-1867)
An original etched copper printing plate, titled 1. Red Backed Shrike Female 2. Red Backed Shrike Young 3. Young Cuckoo & Foster Parent a Meadow Pipit 4. Blackbird Female 5. Crested Titmouse, from Illustrations of British Ornithology [Edinburgh and London: (1821-)1834(-1839)], 545 x 418mm, unsigned, "Plate XLIII" top left, mounted and framed with an uncoloured proof print from the plate.
A VERY FINE ORIGINAL COPPER PRINTING PLATE FROM "THE FINEST AND LARGEST BOOK ABOUT BRITISH BIRDS" (Jackson). The plate was used to print plate 43 from vol.I of Selby's major work. Christine Jackson writes of the prints: "The copper plates were superbly executed and the monochrome printed plates have an austere beauty unmatched in other bird books illustrated by line. Every feather is clearly visible, with all the details of the large flight feathers and the softer plumage standing out in immaculate precision. Tone, shade, and texture were all exploited to the fullest extent and demonstrate the best of which copper etching and engraving were capable." (Bird Etchings p.204).
"Selby etched his drawings on copper plates and then either took or sent the plates to William Home Lizars in Edinburgh. Either Lizars himself or one of his workmen took a pull [a proof impression] from Selby's plate and worked on any parts necessary to bring the plate to a very fine state of completion. Selby and Sir William Jardine both purchased their copper plates and etching ground from Pontifex of London, and their letters refer to the progress made in drawing and "biting" or etching their plates. If they made a mistake or accidently over-etched a plate, they relied on Lizars to correct it by burnishing to lighten it." (op.cit. pp.202-204). Cf. BM (NH) IV pp.1895-1896; cf. Fine Bird Books (1990) p.141; cf. Nissen IVB 853; cf. Zimmer p.571.
An original etched copper printing plate, titled 1. Red Backed Shrike Female 2. Red Backed Shrike Young 3. Young Cuckoo & Foster Parent a Meadow Pipit 4. Blackbird Female 5. Crested Titmouse, from Illustrations of British Ornithology [Edinburgh and London: (1821-)1834(-1839)], 545 x 418mm, unsigned, "Plate XLIII" top left, mounted and framed with an uncoloured proof print from the plate.
A VERY FINE ORIGINAL COPPER PRINTING PLATE FROM "THE FINEST AND LARGEST BOOK ABOUT BRITISH BIRDS" (Jackson). The plate was used to print plate 43 from vol.I of Selby's major work. Christine Jackson writes of the prints: "The copper plates were superbly executed and the monochrome printed plates have an austere beauty unmatched in other bird books illustrated by line. Every feather is clearly visible, with all the details of the large flight feathers and the softer plumage standing out in immaculate precision. Tone, shade, and texture were all exploited to the fullest extent and demonstrate the best of which copper etching and engraving were capable." (Bird Etchings p.204).
"Selby etched his drawings on copper plates and then either took or sent the plates to William Home Lizars in Edinburgh. Either Lizars himself or one of his workmen took a pull [a proof impression] from Selby's plate and worked on any parts necessary to bring the plate to a very fine state of completion. Selby and Sir William Jardine both purchased their copper plates and etching ground from Pontifex of London, and their letters refer to the progress made in drawing and "biting" or etching their plates. If they made a mistake or accidently over-etched a plate, they relied on Lizars to correct it by burnishing to lighten it." (op.cit. pp.202-204). Cf. BM (NH) IV pp.1895-1896; cf. Fine Bird Books (1990) p.141; cf. Nissen IVB 853; cf. Zimmer p.571.
Special notice
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