Date of Printing: 1771 • Medium: Copper• Plate Engraving (hand colored)• Subject Category: Natural History - Birds • Signed: • Plate signed, Lower Left Period • Created: Enlightenment (1700 - 1799) • Plate Size HxWxD cm: 30.5 x 31 • Leaf Paper Size HxW cm: 36 x 49.5 • Style: FOLIO Original Vintage • Print on Verso: Blank on verso • Condition: Pristine - new or as new • Edition Type: Limited Edition • Paper Type: Laid Paper • Framed: Unframed
This originally hand-colored, folio bird engraving is from Thomas Pennant's The British Zoology or Zoologia Britannica. This is from the German edition published in Ausburg by Johann Jacob Haid & Sohn between 1771 and 1778. The drawings were by P. Paillou, G. Edwards, et. al. and the original etchings by P. Mazell. This edition featured the plates re-engraved by Haid with vibrant original hand-coloring.
Thomas Pennant was a leading naturalist in England in the 18th century. He was a fellow of the Royal Society and counted amongst his confidants Carl Linnaeus and Sir Joseph Banks. Pennant's work was noted as the first to publish color illustrations of birds in a work that attempted to describe all of the British species, many life-size. The mammals included in the work was also a rare occurance for an 18th century work.