Marsh Warbler above a Grass Tussock, Hand Colored Morris Bird Print, 1896

This is an original wood engraved bird plate, colored by hand, captioned "MARSH WARBLER." A single bird perches on a slender gray brown stem rising out of a tussock of grass, facing right and leaning forward, with its long tail raised to the upper left. It is olive brown above, with darker wing feathers, a warm buff wash over the face and sides of the breast, a whitish throat and belly and yellow legs. The tussock below is pale green with slender seed heads, and a bare forked twig tops the stem.

The caption "MARSH 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 Marsh Warbler is Acrocephalus palustris.

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.