Description: C I R Q L A R Original antique prints, books, maps and atlases Name Of PrintHooping Crane +. Plate #65.Author/Artist Alexander Wilson Date of Publication Philadelphia: Bradsford & Innskeep between 1808-14. Type of Print Original hand colored engraving. Size of Image Folio: ~11" X 14". Condition In overall very good to excellent condition. Please note the burn mark around the periphery of the print, evidence that it has spent much of its life inside a matted frame. Description We are proud to be able to offer a fine FIRST EDITION original hand colored engraving by Alexander Wilson from his masterful work entitled American Ornithology; or, The Natural History of the Birds of the United States. This fine work was published between 1808-14. Alexander Wilson's American Ornithology is the first exceptional book devoted to the subject of American bird life, and the first to be published in the United States by an American citizen. Wilson's seminal publication was an artistic, scientific, and commercial undertaking of magisterial proportions. His 76 plates depicted 320 figures of 262 species, including 39 that were entirely new and 23 that were for the first time described sufficiently to distinguish them from European species with which they had been confused. Great care was lavished on the illustrations, and the quality of paper, engraving, and coloring was of the highest standard. The images are of considerable charm, as each species is depicted with character and animation, including some that have since gone extinct, such as the Passenger Pigeon. The son of a weaver, Wilson was born in Scotland in 1766, and at the age of thirteen he commenced an apprenticeship to learn his father's trade. In his early 20s, he abandoned weaving in order to make his way as a poet, publishing a slim volume of verses in 1790. Yet when he lampooned a local mill-owner in one of his satirical works, he found himself in prison. Following his release, he moved in 1794 to the United States, perhaps lured by the promise of free speech, but more certainly by the hopes of greater prosperity. For about ten years he worked as a school teacher in New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania. In 1802 he took over the school at Gray's Ferry on the Schuylkill River just below Philadelphia, where he was fortunate to have as a neighbor the naturalist William Bartram (1739 - 1823). Bartram's botanical and zoological library was enthralling to the young immigrant. It was Bartram who nurtured Wilson's nascent interest in ornithology, and who helped him learn to draw birds, offering Wilson the use of his library so he could study illustrations of American birds by such 18th-century naturalists as Mark Catesby and George Edwards. Wilson's drawings for the American Ornithology are remarkably fine for an artist who learned to draw so late in life. They remain essentially specimen drawings, stressing anatomical features over behavior or habitat as the defining characteristics of a species. As the primary engraver of the plates for American Ornithology, Alexander Lawson composed larger, more integrated scenes from Wilson's material by creating collages with the individual drawings and filling in background details before engraving the plates. The fusion of Wilson's drawings and Lawson's compositions was one of science and art, an intersection that resulted in this rare and unique landmark in the early history of American color-plate books. Wilson's work rendered all previous books on the subject obsolete, and justly established him as the great pioneer ornithologist of America. Thank you for looking and please be sure and look at our other auctions for other fine works by Audubon from the first as well as the 1860 editions of the Birds Of America. We also have other architectural, natural history plates as well as original maps, all guaranteed original. We do not use the eBay check-out system for invoicing so it is not necessary to email us at auction end. You will receive an email from Paypal letting you know the particular payment options available to you. We will also send you an email summarizing your winning bids along with one combined postal charge. We will email you this summary within 24 hours after the auction's end. Cirqlar is a SquareTrade seller in good standing and we will do everything we can make this a positive experience for you. We don't hold checks for clearance (we have yet to receive a bad check after over 25,000 transactions!). Again, we will be happy to combine purchases to save on your shipping costs. News flash! We are now using USPS for our North American shipments. Shipments are easy to track, and, well, frankly we have only lost one singular package out of the tens of thousands of packages we have sent. Good job USPS! If you are one of our International friends, please contact us with your particulars (name of country, insurance requirements if any) so that we might get as accurate a quote as possible to get your purchase to you in a timely fashion. Please note that we now have (finally, mercifully) a legitimate "about me" section where you can find more information about who we are and what we do as well as more tips on collecting prints and the various types of printing techniques that have been used over the years. In addition, we have hundreds of rare prints and colorplate books, maps and atlases at set prices. We have recently been fortunate enough to acquire, for example, the original watercolors from Lewin's "Birds of Great Britain". We also have listed several prints from Shaw and Nodder's "The Naturalist's Miscellany", flower prints from Curtis' "Flora Londinensis", P.J. Redoute's "Les Liliacees". Please also check out our ebay listings for some phenomenal Abbeville edition elephant folio restrikes of Audubon's "Birds Of America" which are what many refer to as the preeminent 20th century facsimile edition of this important work. We will be updating this frequently. We are committed to offering the very best antique prints available with over the top superior service. Click "here" for more information about us. 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Price: 499.99 USD
Location: Cleveland, Ohio
End Time: 2024-12-04T00:29:38.000Z
Shipping Cost: 16 USD
Product Images
Item Specifics
Restocking Fee: No
Return shipping will be paid by: Buyer
All returns accepted: Returns Accepted
Item must be returned within: 14 Days
Refund will be given as: Money Back
Artist: Alexander Wilson
Type: Print
Listed By: Dealer or Reseller
Year of Production: 1810
Date of Creation: 1800-1899
Features: 1st Edition
Material: Engraving
Region of Origin: Philadelphia
Production Technique: Engraving
Subject: Birds, Ornithology
Print Surface: Paper
