Antique Natural HistoryOriginal plates from the naturalists' books, 1600s to 1900s
Beaver Dams on a Rocky Shore, 19th Century Canadian Wildlife Engraving
Beaver Dams on a Rocky Shore, 19th Century Canadian Wildlife Engraving, view 2

Close-ups

Beaver Dams on a Rocky Shore, 19th Century Canadian Wildlife Engraving, close-up 1Beaver Dams on a Rocky Shore, 19th Century Canadian Wildlife Engraving, close-up 2Beaver Dams on a Rocky Shore, 19th Century Canadian Wildlife Engraving, close-up 3

Framed and on the wall

Beaver Dams on a Rocky Shore, 19th Century Canadian Wildlife Engraving, shown framedBeaver Dams on a Rocky Shore, 19th Century Canadian Wildlife Engraving, shown framed on a wallBeaver Dams on a Rocky Shore, 19th Century Canadian Wildlife Engraving, shown framed in a room

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

Beaver Dams on a Rocky Shore, 19th Century Canadian Wildlife Engraving

£95 ($125, €110)

Period original, not a reproduction.

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

Date
Not stated
Size
4.9 × 8.1 in (12.5 × 20.5 cm)
Condition
Very good condition. Light toning and a few faint foxing spots in the margins. Minor creasing to upper edge, typical of plates removed from bound volumes. No tears or repairs. Strong impression on firm paper.
Section
Mammals
Reference
f_46149222

Beavers at work, an original steel engraving by Lemaitre, headed "Canada" and titled "Constructions des Castors," with "Lemaitre direxit" printed below the plate and a plate number faintly marked at the upper right. It was made in France around 1850.

Three beavers are shown at the edge of the water in the foreground: one sits upright near the bank, another stands on a fallen log by the shore, and a third crawls across the ground at the right. Behind them a bank of weathered rock rises toward the right, topped with trees, with a rounded mound of branches and mud at its foot, and the water stretches away at the left toward a low, distant horizon under a soft, lightly shaded sky. The rock, bark and fur are rendered with close, fine hatching.

The beaver was the animal at the center of the North American fur trade, and its lodges and dams were a standard subject in European accounts of Canada. This plate belongs to a set of small Canadian views and is one of the few in it given to wildlife rather than to towns or people.

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