Young Gannet in Speckled Juvenile Plumage after Lilian Medland, c. 1909

This is an original antique bird print, a photogravure printed in black and gray tones without added color. It shows a young Gannet in its first plumage, standing on a rock at the edge of the sea with surf breaking at the left. The bird faces the viewer's left, its long pointed bill held level. The whole plumage is dark and closely flecked with small white spots on the head, neck, back and wings, the dress worn in the first year before the white adult plumage is gained over several years. The webbed feet and the long wedge shaped tail are clearly drawn.

The plate is lettered "PLATE CXLIX" at lower right and "2/7 scale" at lower center, the scale at which the bird is drawn. The artist's signature, "L. M. Medland", is drawn into the image. No species name is printed on the plate; the identification given here is made from the drawing itself.

Charles Stonham's The Birds of the British Islands was issued in London by E. Grant Richards in five volumes from 1906 to 1911, and this plate is from the third volume. Every plate in the work was made after drawings by Lilian M. Medland and printed by photogravure, so the tones of her original brush and wash drawing survive in a single ink. Medland later married the ornithologist Tom Iredale and moved to Australia.

Printed in a single tone on a generous sheet, the plate looks well in a plain frame with a pale mat, alone or as part of a group of birds.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.