Keulemans Lobibyx Miles. (Masked Plover) Hand-coloured lithograph c1920.

by Keulemans, John Gerrard

Lobibyx Miles, Australian Masked Plover, Keulemans antique print c1920.

Original hand-coloured lithograph by eminent Dutch bird illustrator and naturalist John Gerrard Keulemans (1842-1912) for The Birds of Australia by G.M. Mathews. Published in London between 1910 and 1927, this fine antique lithograph is from one of last-published grand works that were illustrated with hand-coloured lithographs - a slow, skilled, expensive process for illustrations.

Born in northern New South Wales, Gregory Macalister Mathews (1876-1940) was educated at Singleton Grammar and King's School, Paramatta. He worked with and was guided by scientists in Australia and after retirement, in England. Dr Richard Bowdler Sharpe suggested Mathews prepare a well-illustrated publication on Australian birds, and guided Mathews in his work. Mathews' Birds of Australia took 16 years to complete. From 1910 to 1923 Mathews was greatly assisted by Tom Ireland, until Ireland left to live in Australia.

Gregory Mathews was a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and received many honours, including the order of Commander of the British Empire in 1939. He presented his vast ornithological library to the Australian Commonwealth and it is now housed in Canberra's National Library.

Page size is 240 x 335mm (9.5 x 13.25 inches).