The decorative group of thirteen framed and hand coloured mixed lithographs and woodblocks on wove paper, of natural history interest, each depicting eggs from British birds set upon soft pastel coloured grounds of pink, green and ivory published by Henry Leonard Meyer in “Coloured Illustrations of British Birds and Their Eggs” in 1842-50 and Rev. F. O. Morris in “A Natural History of the Nests and Eggs of British Birds” in 1853-56, now framed and glazed as a group.
Unknown.
The illustrations show a variety of British eggs, and one nest, although not all are annotated, they include the following; Lesser Black-Backed Gull, Herring Gull, Brent Goose, Egyptian Goose, Great Crested Grebe, Red Necked-Grebe, Great Snipe, Common Snipe, Temmincks Stint, Schinz’s Sandpiper, Spotted Redshank, Redshank, Black Tailed Godwit, Bar Tailed Godwit, Two-Barred Crossbill, Rose Coloured-Pastor and Greenfinch.
Both of these publications, the “Coloured Illustrations of British Birds and Their Eggs” and “A Natural History of the Nests and Eggs of British Birds” went about illustrating the British birds and their eggs, all being hand coloured, showing the pigmentation of the eggs and between them they were considered to be the most complete atlas of portraits of British avifauna (with their eggs) ever published.
A very pretty group with beautiful colourings and limitless versatility.
Printed on mid-nineteenth century wove paper many of the engravings retain their strong, original hand colouring though there is some discolouration and background toning the images all remain in good condition with a handful having small losses and tatty edgings. Please refer to the images for a visual reference.
By appointment only.
