Firecrest Hanging Upside Down from a Conifer Twig, Bird Print, Morris, 1896

This is an original wood engraved bird plate, colored by hand, captioned "FIRECREST." A single firecrest hangs upside down beneath a slender curving twig, gripping it with one foot, its head turned up at the right with the bill pointing upward. Behind it a stout tan bough rises diagonally through the picture. The back and body are olive green and the dark wing shows rows of white edged feathers. The head carries a broad orange red crown stripe edged in black, with a white stripe over the eye. Starburst tufts of fine green needles grow from the twig and from the bough below.

The engraved caption below the picture reads "FIRECREST." with a full stop. There is no plate number above the picture and no engraver's credit on the sheet. The firecrest is Regulus ignicapilla, named for the flame colored crown stripe shown on the plate.

A History of British Birds was written by the Reverend Francis Orpen Morris (1810 to 1893), rector of Nunburnholme in Yorkshire. The wood blocks for the plates of the work were engraved by Benjamin Fawcett (1808 to 1893) of Driffield in Yorkshire. This fourth edition was issued in six volumes by John C. Nimmo, London, and this plate comes from the third volume, whose title page is dated 1896 and states that the plates are colored by hand. Each plate combines an engraved black key block with a printed gray tint, finished by hand in watercolor.

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