Goldcrest on a Conifer Twig, Hand Colored Bird Print, Morris, 1896

This is an original wood engraved bird plate, colored by hand, captioned "GOLDCREST." A single goldcrest perches on a pinkish tan, rough barked twig that runs diagonally down through the picture, the body level and the bill pointing to the right. The upperparts are soft moss green and the underparts pale gray buff. The crown carries a stripe of orange red and yellow edged with black, lying flat along the head. The dark wing shows two white wing bars, one tinged yellow, and the feet are gray. Three tufts of fine green needles grow from the twig, one above the bird and two below.

The engraved caption below the picture reads "GOLDCREST." with a full stop. There is no plate number above the picture and no engraver's credit on the sheet. The goldcrest is Regulus regulus, named for the 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.