Keulemans lithograph, Arachnoraphis crassirostris, Stout-billed Spider-hunter, c1878.

by Keulemans, John Gerrard

Antique print of Lesser Stout-billed Spider-Hunter. What a wonderful 'handle'!

Exquisitely delineated and superbly coloured. Signed JGK, this is a beautiful original hand-coloured lithograph by eminent bird illustrator and naturalist John Gerrard Keulemans (1842-1912) for G.E. Shelley’s “A Monograph of the Nectariniidae, or, Family of Sunbirds" by George Ernest Shelley (1840-1910), published in London between 1876 and 1880.

Keulemans' skill in the art of lithography is evident in his hand-coloured lithographs for this rarely-seen publication. In 1869 fellow ornithologist and colleague of John Gould, Richard Bowdler-Sharp persuaded the well-travelled Dutchman Keulemans to move from Brussels to London, the most important centre for publications illustrating birds.

Page size: 318 x 247mm (12.1/2 x 9.3/4 inches).