Antique Natural HistoryOriginal plates from the naturalists' books, 1600s to 1900s
Adult Night Heron on a Fallen Branch, Plate CLII after Lilian Medland, c. 1909
Adult Night Heron on a Fallen Branch, Plate CLII after Lilian Medland, c. 1909, view 2

Close-ups

Adult Night Heron on a Fallen Branch, Plate CLII after Lilian Medland, c. 1909, close-up 1Adult Night Heron on a Fallen Branch, Plate CLII after Lilian Medland, c. 1909, close-up 2

Framed and on the wall

Adult Night Heron on a Fallen Branch, Plate CLII after Lilian Medland, c. 1909, shown framedAdult Night Heron on a Fallen Branch, Plate CLII after Lilian Medland, c. 1909, shown framed on a wallAdult Night Heron on a Fallen Branch, Plate CLII after Lilian Medland, c. 1909, shown framed in a room

Frame and rooms are illustrations of how the print could look; the description says what is included.

Adult Night Heron on a Fallen Branch, Plate CLII after Lilian Medland, c. 1909

$325 (£245, €290)

Period original, not a reproduction.

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Shipped from the Netherlands, flat, insured and tracked, worldwide. Returns accepted within 14 days.

Date
circa 1909
Technique
Photogravure
Coloring
Uncolored
Condition
Good. Light wear to the bottom left, top right and bottom right corners. Light age toning; light handling soiling along the edges and a few small spots in the margins. Printed image clean.
Period
20th century
Section
Birds
Reference
BG-14331-3-28
What the condition grades mean
Excellent
Bright and clean, with no faults worth mentioning.
Very good
Only light signs of age, such as faint toning.
Good
Normal signs of age for a sheet of this period: toning, some foxing, small marks or neat old repairs.
Fair
Clear faults such as staining, tears or repairs, priced to match.

Every fault we see is written in the condition note, and the whole sheet is shown uncropped in the photos.

This is an original antique bird print, a photogravure printed in black and gray tones without added color. It shows an adult Night Heron standing on a fallen branch above still water, with reeds and grasses at left and right. The bird faces the viewer's right in a hunched posture, one foot drawn up beneath the white breast. The black crown and back, a long white plume trailing from the nape, the white forehead and face, the large eye and the stout, pointed bill are clearly drawn, and the gray wings are worked feather by feather.

The plate is lettered "PLATE CLII" at lower right and "1/3 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.

Condition: Light wear to the bottom left, top right and bottom right corners. Light age toning; light handling soiling along the edges and a few small spots in the margins. Printed image clean.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed. Any framed or interior images are shown for presentation and inspiration only, unless the listing explicitly states that the item is sold framed.

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