Abraham Rees. Sydenham Edward Thrushes copperplate engraving c1809.

by Edwards, Sydenham

Antique print of Land Birds, Order Passeres: Turdus Orpheus (Mocking Thrush), Turdus Rex (King Thrush), Turdus perspiculatus (Spectacle Thrush), Turdus crassirostris (Thick-billed Thrush), Turdus cyanurus (Blue-tailed Thrush), Turdus longirostris (Long-billed Thrush). 

Original copperplate engraving c1809 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 revised Chamber’s Cyclopaedia for many years. Rees commissioned foremost artists and scientists in each field for his encyclopedia which appeared in parts, finally encompassing 39 volumes of text, and 6 volumes of plates which included an atlas, one volume illustrating natural history, and four volumes on agriculture, geology, the remaining sciences, foreign exploration, technology and the arts. The illustrations were printed separately from their text, and more popular than the text, the individual images have always been collected. Rees's Cyclopaedia 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. 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 of publication. Page size is 26.5 x 20.5cm (approximately 10 1/2 x 8 inches). This engraving has fine later hand-colour.