Beverley Robinson Morris

細節
Beverley Robinson Morris

British Game Birds and Wildfowl. London: Benjamin Fawcett for Groombridge and Sons, 1855. 4° (308 x 237mm). 60 hand-coloured wood-engraved plates by Benjamin Fawcett. Publisher's red half morocco, the green and red marbled cloth on the covers stamped with a gilt vignette of pheasants, spine in six compartments with raised bands, lettered in the second and fourth, the others ruled in gilt, g.e. (slight splitting to joints).

A FINE COPY OF THE FIRST EDITION. Including informative text and excellent plates of all the birds that were then considered game: pheasant, grouse, ptarmigan, blackcock, but with the majority of species shown being waders or wildfowl. The list also includes a number of birds that certainly would not be considered as game by today's sportsman: golden plover, great bustard, swan, etc. The block used on the front cover is based on the plate of the pheasant, here bound as a frontispiece. The plates, printed by Fawcett, one of the two greatest colour-printers who worked with wood-blocks, are each printed from two coloured blocks and then hand-coloured. This variation to the base colours gives a depth to the images that would not have been possible with a single-colour base. Anker 345; Fine Bird Books p.95; Nissen IVB 664; Zimmer 442.