Redstart Leaning from a Leafy Twig, Hand Colored Bird Print, Morris, 1896

An original wood engraved bird plate, colored by hand, captioned "REDSTART." A single bird leans steeply forward on a slanting twig, facing to the left with the head lowered and the tail raised behind it at the upper right. The crown and back are blue gray with a white forehead, the face and throat black, and the breast, rump and tail orange rufous, while the wings are dark brown. Two pale green leaves hang from a stalk at the right, and a bare broken stub rises behind the bird's back.

The caption is engraved in spaced capitals below the picture: "REDSTART." There is no number or other lettering above the picture, and no engraver's credit within it. The Redstart is Phoenicurus phoenicurus; the black throat, gray back and white forehead shown here mark 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.