Bills of Seven Wild Geese Seen from Above after Lilian Medland, c. 1909

This is an original antique natural history print, a photogravure printed in black and gray, uncolored. It is a comparative plate of seven goose bills, each seen from directly above, arranged in three rows and numbered Fig I to Fig VII. Each figure shows the upper mandible with the nostrils, the nail at the tip and the feathering of the forehead at its base. The nails differ clearly, pale on Figs I and III and dark on the others, and on Figs III and VII the feathers at the base of the bill are drawn white, so the plate sets out the details by which the wild geese are separated.

The sheet is lettered "PLATE CLXV." in italic capitals at the foot of the center column, and each bill carries its own figure number, from "Fig I." to "Fig VII.", in small type below it. This plate has no scale note and no visible signature of the artist.

The plate comes from The Birds of the British Islands by Charles Stonham, published in London by E. Grant Richards in five volumes between 1906 and 1911. This sheet belongs to the third volume, which takes the water birds in systematic order, from the cormorants and herons through the geese and swans to the ducks. The illustrations are after drawings by Lilian M. Medland and are reproduced in photogravure, a photomechanical intaglio process that carries the soft tones of a wash drawing and leaves a plate mark around the image. As throughout the work, no name is printed on the plate; this sheet carries only its plate number and the figure numbers. Medland later married the ornithologist Tom Iredale and moved to Australia.

Printed in soft black and gray with wide margins, the plate suits a plain frame with a generous mat, alone or beside other plates from the same volume.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.