Melodious Willow Warbler Singing on a Twig, Antique Bird Print, Morris, 1896

This is an original wood engraved bird plate, colored by hand, captioned "MELODIOUS WILLOW WARBLER." A single bird perches on a tan twig that rises from the lower left to the upper right. The body is held in a head-up diagonal, the head to the upper left, and the bill is open as if in song. The upperparts and wings are olive, the wing feathers darker and closely engraved, while the throat, breast and belly are a clear yellow. The eye is brown and the feet are pale blue-gray. Three narrow toothed leaves hang below the twig at the lower left, two gray-green and one tan.

The engraved caption below the picture reads "MELODIOUS WILLOW WARBLER." with a full stop. There is no plate number above the picture and no engraver's credit on the sheet.

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.