Antique Bird Prints

Ornithological illustrations were created not just as part of the pursuit of scientific knowledge
but also as objects of considerable æsthetic beauty.

Mark Catesby. [1731-43].
Bird prints from the first natural history of American flora & fauna. Folio. Ca. $1,700 to $4,000.

George Edwards. 1751-1758.
Prints by the 'father of British ornithology.' Quarto. $175-$350.

Johann Michael Seligmann. [1749-76].
German edition prints after Mark Catesby and George Edwards. Small folio. $350 to $750.

John James Audubon. 1827-39/1860.
Incomparable, double-elephant folio prints by Audubon. Ca. $2,000 to $125,000.

John James Audubon. 1840-44.
Lovely and affordable, reduced versions of Audubon's birds. First edition. Royal octavo. Ca. $150 to $3,250

John James Audubon. 1856.
Second edition, octavo prints. Royal octavo. $175 to $275.

William Lewin. 1789-1801.
Birds of Great Britain, both first edition watercolors and second edition engravings. Quarto. $90 to $450.

Alexander Wilson. [1803-33].
Bird prints from the first American ornithology. Folio. $250 to $575.

William Daniell. 1807.
Natural history prints by this noted British artist. Octavo. $75 to $90.

Thomas Doughty. 1830-32.
Unusual images from an early American sporting work. Quarto. $175 to $250.

Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge. 1845-47.
Unusual images from a British work. Quarto. $125 to $270.

John Gould. 1832-88.
Hummingbirds and other birds illustrated by the "Bird Man." Folio. $350 to $1,900.

Alexander Pope. 1877-78.
Upland Game Birds and Water Fowl of the United States. Folio $450 to $650.

Thomas Gentry. 1882.
Nests and Eggs of Birds of the United States. Quarto. $65 to $150.

John Frederick Miller. [1796-]1822.
Cimelia Physica. Folio. $425 to $750.

Thomas Pennant. 1766.
The British Zoology. Folio. $300 to $700.

Alfred Malherbe. 1861.
Monographie des Picidées. Folio. $475 to $650.

Prideaux John Selby. 1821-1834.
Illustrations of Ornithology. Folio. $300 to $600.

Pl. 76. "The Siskin or Albadavine." From Eleazer Albin's A Natural History of Birds. London, 1731-1738. Quarto. 10 x 7 1/2 (platemark). Engravings. Original hand color. Subtitle: "Curiously Engraven from the Life, and Exactly Colour'd by the Author." Full margins. Fine condition.

From a delightful set of prints from Albin's A Natural History of Birds, one of the first British bird books with colored plates. Plates were drawn either by Albin or his daughter Elizabeth, and while not noted for their scientific accuracy, their early date and charming appearance makes them very collectable. The images are copper engravings which were hand colored by Eleazer and Elizabeth "from the Originals, drawn from the live Birds." This is a delightful example of early eighteenth century ornithology. $145

From Thomas Lord's Entire System of Ornithology or Ecumenical History of British Birds. Line engravings (hand colored). London: by the author, 1791-96. 8 1/4 x 11 3/4 (plate mark). Light mat burn. Else very good condition.

This ornithology is one of the rarest to be found complete because even when it was issued, the plates were considered obsolete for science and primitive as art. Thus, not many copies were sold. Mullens and Swann's Bibliography of British Ornithology praises the art and states that the dating of each plate is very useful. Over the years these inheritors of the concepts of George Edwards, Marc Catesby and the Count de Buffon have taken on an aura of folk art in their own right. They are clear, bright, and delightful.

Based on Francois Levaillant's Histoire naturelle des Oiseaux d'Afrique, first published in Paris 1796-1808. 9 1/4 x 7 1/4 (platemark). Etchings. Original hand color. These plates are from a rare and never completed London edition with these dated 1805-1808. No record of these prints is found in Sitwell or Anker.

Levaillant is credited with being the best recorder of exotic birds until the advent of John Gould and his colleagues in the mid-nineteenth century. The artist was Johann Lebrecht Reinold who worked closely with the editor to open the world of African ornithology to Europeans. Sitwell records copying but incomplete editions in Nuremberg, 1797-1802, Halle in 1798, and Amsterdam in 1812. These prints were engraved by Pass and Reynolds in London and published by J. Wilkes. The misnumbering is evidence that these were trial printings and not part of a finished work. The quality of the engraving and hand coloring is superb.

"AMPELIS. Plate II. 1. The Pompadour Chatterer 2. The Purple-throated Chatterer." $150
"CAPRIMULGUS. Plate II. 1. The White-throated Goat sucker 2. Head of the Grandis or great Goat sucker 3. Foot of the same." $150
"CORVUS. Plate II. The Splendid Crow." $150
"FALCO. Plate II. The Griffard Eagle, and the Boatman." $150
"FALCO. Plate V. The Parasite, and furcated Kite of Africa." $150
"FALCO. Plate VI. The Crested Buzzard, and the gloved Buzzard." $150