Golden Oriole Looking Upward, Antique Hand Colored Print, Morris, 1896

An original wood engraved bird plate, colored by hand, captioned "GOLDEN ORIOLE." A single bird is seen from behind and a little to the left, perched on a sloping brown branch with its head twisted upward and the red bill pointing to the upper left. The body is a strong yellow, the wings black with pale edges to the flight feathers and a small yellow patch, and the tail black at the center with yellow at the sides. A dark stripe runs from the bill to the red brown eye. The branch is tinted gray green at both ends, with a short twig rising at the upper left and another below the feet.

The caption is engraved in spaced capitals below the picture: "GOLDEN ORIOLE." There is no number or other lettering above the picture, and no engraver's credit within it. The Golden Oriole is Oriolus oriolus; the yellow and black plumage shown here is that of the adult male.

This plate comes from the fourth edition of A History of British Birds by the Reverend Francis Orpen Morris (1810 to 1893), rector of Nunburnholme in Yorkshire, who wrote the text. The edition was issued in six volumes by John C. Nimmo of London, and this plate belongs to the third volume, whose title page is dated 1896 and states that the plates are colored by hand. The wood blocks for the plates of the work were engraved by Benjamin Fawcett (1808 to 1893) of Driffield in Yorkshire. 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.