African vulture, Le Chincou, Levaillant. George Shaw c1808.

by Shaw, George

Grand-looking useful bird, threatened with extinction. Antique print.

Copperplate engraving by James Heath (1757-1834) c1808 (with later hand-colour) for George Shaw (1751-1813), to illustrate Shaw's Zoological lectures delivered at the Royal Institution, with plates from the first authorities and most select specimens.by George Shaw, M.D.,F.R.S., &c.., printed in Fleet Street, London by George Kearsley c1809 (with later hand-colour)

George Shaw (1751-1813), was educated by his father, the Reverend Timothy Shaw, until 1765 when he entered Magdalen College, Oxford (B.A.,1769. M.A.,1772). George Shaw was ordained as a Deacon in 1774 but left this profession to study medicine in Edinburgh for three years. He then returned to Oxford where he was deputy-lecturer in Botany. George Shaw was admitted to the degrees of M.B. and M.D. in 1787 and then practised as a doctor in London. In 1788 he joined the newly founded Linnean Society of London, and in 1789 was elected a fellow of the Royal Society. In 1791 Shaw was appointed to the natural history section of the British Museum. In 1807 he was appointed keeper and retained that position until he died.

Page size is 230 x 140mm (9.x 5.5 inches). There is a slight conservation-tape repaired nick at upper left edge.