Bargain discounted Trichoglossus versicolor, Varied Lorikeet small antique print c1836.

by Lizars, William Home

North Australian Variegated Lorikeet.

Original hand-coloured steel engraving by eminent Edinburgh engraver William Home Lizars (1788-1859) after a drawing by Edward Lear who assisted John Selby with illustrations for his work on Parrots for Sir William Jardine's Naturalist's Library, published in London c1836. Sir William Jardine (1800-1847) was a Scottish ichthyologist and ornithologist who combined the talents of acknowledged naturalists in each field to illustrate birds, animals, fish and insects. From their drawings W.H. Lizars engraved each finely detailed specimen. Only the subject was hand-coloured with watercolour. With the background left uncoloured, the small nature portraits standout brilliantly against their backgrounds.

Edward Lear (1812-1888) worked as a scientific artist for the Zoological Society in London. He was the first eminent artist to draw fauna from life rather than stuffed skins. Between 1830 and 1832 Lear painted and lithographed parrots for his publication, Illustrations of the family Psittacidae, or Parrots - which resulted in his being elected an associate of the Linnaean Society. As he became frustrated by failing eyesight in his latter years, Edward Lear apparently said that if there was such a thing as reincarnation he would surely return as a parrot.  

This page is slightly age-discoloured. The page size is 10 x 17cm (4 x 6.6 inches) Price reduced because base of page was cropped during publication.