Date of Printing: 1799 • Medium: Copperplate Engraving (hand colored) • Subject Category: Natural History - Birds • Signed: Unsigned • Period Created: Enlightenment (1700 - 1799) • Plate Size HxWxD cm: 29 x 21 • Leaf Paper Size HxW cm: 33.5 x 23 • Style: FOLIO Original Vintage • Print on Verso: Blank on verso • Condition: Fair, toning on edges, some staining • Edition Type: 1st Edition - Limited • Paper Type: Laid Paper • Framed: Print only
Copperplate engraving of a male African Coucou vulagaire, from Le Vaillant's, "Histoire naturelle des oiseaux d'Afrique", V pl. 202. Original engraving drawn by Jacques Barraband, printed in color and finished by hand. Printed by de Langlois
LEVAILLANT, François (1753-1824). Natural History of African Birds. Paris: J. Fuchs, Year VII (1799 -1808).
"In publishing the History of African Birds, I thought that it was a service to science to mention all the rare and undescribed species which I have found in the different cabinets of Europe I have been careful at the same time to designate the collection from which I have drawn them. "(Preface, xj).
Jacques Barraband (or Pierre-Paul Barraband) (1767? (baptized 1768), Aubusson (Creuse), France–1 October 1809, Lyon) was a French zoological and botanical illustrator, renowned for his lifelike renderings of tropical birds. His pictures were based on mounted specimens and his illustration was considered the most accurate ones made during the early 1800s.
Condition: This print has slighttoning on all edges, with two water stains at bottom. Please see photos.