Garden Warbler on a Branch, Hand Colored Antique Bird Print, Morris, 1896

This is an original wood engraved bird plate, colored by hand, captioned "GARDEN WARBLER." A single bird perches on a brown branch, facing left and leaning slightly forward, with its tail stretched out to the right. It is plain olive brown above, with a darker brown wing, a pale gray wash on the side of the neck, a short pointed bill and cream buff underparts. Its gray legs grip the branch. Toothed leaves in pale green and yellow green grow on twigs above the bird's back and below its tail.

The caption "GARDEN WARBLER." is engraved in capitals in the lower margin. There is no number or other lettering above the picture, and no engraver's credit can be read within it. The Garden Warbler is Sylvia borin.

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 plate comes from the fourth edition, issued in six volumes by John C. Nimmo of London, and belongs to 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.