Ornithology, Order Grallae antique print. Abraham Rees Cyclopaedia c1808.

by Edwards, Sydenham

Antique print of White Sheath Bill, Chestnut Jacana, China Jacana, Land Rail, Variegated Ril, Gold-breasted Trumpeter birds.

Original copperplate engraving c1808 by Milton after the drawing by Welsh natural history illustrator, Sydenham Edwards (1768-1819) for The Cyclopaedia; or, Universal Dictionary of Arts, Sciences and Literature by Abraham Rees, published by Longman, Hurst, Rees and Orme at Paternoster Row in London.
The New Cyclopaedia was the brainchild of Presbyterian minister and scholar, Abraham Rees (1743-1825) who for many years had revised Chamber’s Cyclopaedia. Rees commissioned the foremost artists and scientists in each field, for his encyclopedia. It appeared in parts which finally encompassed 39 volumes of text, and 6 volumes of plates which included an atlas, one volume illustrated natural history, and four volumes illustrated agriculture, geology, the remaining sciences, foreign exploration, technology and the arts. The illustrations were printed separately from their text, and more readily available that when printed with their text, the individual images have always been collected. In all, Rees’s Cyclopaedia provides an amazing insight into how the world was then viewed. It was a very ambitious project, and the most comprehensive of the 19th century.

Longman and Rees began publishing in 1802, but during the many years of this huge undertaking there were different partnerships of publishers. The illustrations and text were entirely hand-set and printed from engraved plates. Each engraving was printed on thick, hand-made ‘wove’ paper, and not coloured at the time. Page size is 26.5 x 20.5cm (approximately 10 1/2 x 8 inches). This engraving has fine later hand-colour.