Birds including Australian Birds

Great White-Crested Cockatoo – Greene – 1884

Original wood cut engraving of a beautiful Cockatoo from Parrots in Captivity published in London in 1884. It inhabits the rainforests of the Moluccas . He is a relative of the Sulphur Crested Cockatoo. The male and female are almost identical.

Greene’s delightful work comprising wood-engraved plates printed by Benjamin Fawcett after drawings by A.F. Lydon. The prints are hand finished with delicate highlighting in gum arabic that makes the breast feathers shimmer in a most unusual way.

Benjamin Fawcett was one of the great colour printers of the 19th century. He pioneered a system of wood block engraving from multiple blocks that resulted in vivid finely coloured works. Fawcett had an association of some 50 years with Francis Orpen Morris to produce many beautiful works on birds. Greene’s Parrots in Captivity is an authoritative and studious work. The engravings are the finest of all the illustrations of parrots from the period.

Price $90.00 unframed and matted as shown. Very good condition. Mat dimensions 37cm by 29cm … cream textured mat board with french gold line. Archival materials.
Nice Cockatoo from the Eastern Regions of Indonesia

$90.00

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Javan Parrakeet – Fawcett and Greene – 1884

Original wood cut hand finished engraving of the multicoloured Bluebonnet Parrot from “Parrots in Captivity”, published in London 1884. Very good condition … bright clean colours not a mark on the paper.

The Javan Parakeet also known as the Red or Pink Breasted or Moustached Parakeet. Sadly, so beautiful that it is heavily traded on the bird black market still .. when will people learn that their rightful place is in their natural habitat not a cage.

Greene’s delightful work comprising wood-engraved plates printed by Benjamin Fawcett after drawings by A.F. Lydon. The prints are hand finished with delicate highlighting in gum arabic to accentuate the bright colouring.

Benjamin Fawcett was one of the great colour printers of the 19th century. He pioneered a system of wood block engraving from multiple blocks that resulted in vivid finely coloured works. Fawcett had an association of some 50 years with Francis Orpen Morris to produce many beautiful works on birds. The engravings are the finest illustrations of parrots from the period.

Price matted in cream textured mat with French gilt line $140.00

A Javan Beauty

$140.00

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Hooded Racket-Tailed Magpie (Crypsirhina Cucullata) From Burma – John Gould – The Birds of Asia – 1860′s

Original hand-coloured lithograph produced on limestone from John Gould’s most impressive series “Birds of Asia” completed and published in London in the1860’s.

A striking bird found the in the lower jungles of Northern Burma. Threatened by clearing but currently still strong in numbers. Also known as the Hooded Crypsirhina and Hooded Treepie

First formally described by Thomas Jerden a British ornithologist in 1862. You can see form John Gould’s narrative that he was working from sketches provided by Jerden and unlikely to have an example of the bird.

The birds appear to be figured in natural size being roughly 30 cm long and two thirds of that being the remarkable tail… the accompanying narrative describes their colouring is some detail. The execution of the lithograph is excellent, it is very clean and the colouring still very bright and full and enhanced by the use of gum arabic which creates a sense of richness and depth

We all know about John Gould but maybe not so much about Jensen.

Thomas Caverhill Jenson (1811-1872) was a Scottish born surgeon in the East India Company and then the Military and spent most of his working life in India. He was a keen naturalist in a number of fields. Early on he sent birds back to Sir William Jardine in Scotland to be classified. They arrived moth eaten so from then on Jerden decided to complete that work himself. He became the leading authority in the broader region and sponsored by Lords Canning and Elgin produced The Birds of India in three volumes in the 1860’s. He was also an instigator of the broader work The Fauna of British India including Ceylon and Burma.

Price $390.00 unframed … enquire if you wish

Unusual well executed Magpie from Burma

$390.00

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Wallace’s Tree Swift (Dendrochelidon Wallacei ) John Gould – The Birds of Asia – 1860

Original hand-coloured lithograph produced on limestone from John Gould’s most impressive series “Birds of Asia” completed and published in London circa 1860.

Gould writes in the accompanying narrative “After carefully comparing Indian specimens .. and Javanese specimens … with examples of a bird of the same form sent from Macassar by Mr Wallace, I could come to no other conclusion than that the latter is a very distinct and undescribed species, and I therefore took the opportunity of naming the bird D. Wallacei, in honour of its discoverer; not that there is any necessity for me to attempt to perpetuate the name of this gentleman as a promoter of natural science, since his writings sufficiently attest his devotion to more than one of its departments”. Gould very humble and obviously likes long sentences.

Gould goes on to say that the birds are figured a natural size. Little was then known about them … the accompanying narrative describes their colouring is some detail. The execution of the lithograph is excellent, it is very clean and the colouring still very bright and full and enhanced by the use of gum arabic which creates a sense of richness and depth

Tree swift named by John Gould in honour of Alfred Russell Wallace

$390.00

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Tasmanian Ground Parrot – Greene – 1884

Original wood cut hand finished engraving of the shy Tasmanian Ground Parrot or Green Ground Parrot from Parrots in Captivity published in London in 1884.

A beautifully patterned Ground Parrot of medium size, bright green with black and yellow markings and a pale yellow wing bar. It has a small red band on the lower forehead.

A secretive bird found in the west of Tasmania, where it prefers buttongrass and open heathlands.Not usually seen unless flushed out from cover. Although it also occurs on mainland Australia, it is now only found there in fragmented populations due to disturbed habitats. the bird constructs a shallow nest of fine sticks and grass hidden under low shrubs. The female incubates the eggs and broods the young. She is fed by the male who also feeds the young when they hatch.

Greene’s delightful work comprising wood-engraved plates printed by Benjamin Fawcett after drawings by A.F. Lydon. The prints are hand finished with delicate highlighting in gum arabic to accentuate the bright colouring.

Benjamin Fawcett was one of the great colour printers of the 19th century. He pioneered a system of wood block engraving from multiple blocks that resulted in vivid finely coloured works. Fawcett had an association of some 50 years with Francis Orpen Morris to produce many beautiful works on birds. The engravings are the finest illustrations of parrots from the period.

Pricing structure … the prints alone $120.00, matted as shown $135.00 or framed in gilt $290.00 ready to hang. Just let us know which option … default is matted only

Rare 19th Century print of the Tasmanian Ground Parrot

$120.00

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Western Whipbird (Psophodes Nigrogularis) John Gould – Birds of Australia 1840

Original hand-coloured lithograph (from stone) from Gould’s major work “Birds of Australia” of the Western Whipbird, sometimes referred to as the Black-throated Psophodes.

This work executed by Gould and Richter and completed in London 1840 -1848. At the time only one specimen of the bird had been collected (a male). Gould in his narrative states that we are indebted to Mr Gilbert for the then knowledge. Gilbert had come across it in the Wongan Hills which are placed about 150km of Perth. The image presented by Gould show the bird in its natural size.

Not the subspecies Psophodes Nigrogularis is now considered endangered with only a small group left in a patch to the east of Albany.

Nicely executed Gould Original

$340.00

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Great White-Crested Cockatoo – Greene – 1884

Javan Parrakeet – Fawcett and Greene – 1884

Hooded Racket-Tailed Magpie (Crypsirhina Cucullata) From Burma – John Gould – The Birds of Asia – 1860′s

Wallace’s Tree Swift (Dendrochelidon Wallacei ) John Gould – The Birds of Asia – 1860

Tasmanian Ground Parrot – Greene – 1884

Western Whipbird (Psophodes Nigrogularis) John Gould – Birds of Australia 1840

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