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Majestic Hunter: The American Belted Kingfisher in Its Natural Habitat, 1749
$395 (£295, €350)
Period original, not a reproduction.
Shipped from the Netherlands, flat, insured and tracked, worldwide. Returns accepted within 14 days.
- Date
- 1749
- Size
- 11.1 × 8.9 in (28.3 × 22.7 cm)
- Condition
- Good. General age-related toning and/or occasional minor defects from handling. Has been framed before, hence a darker tone on the outer borders, not affecting the image. Please study scan carefully.
- Period
- 18th century
- Section
- Birds
- Reference
- f_40098972
The belted kingfisher, an original hand-colored engraving from A Natural History of Uncommon Birds by George Edwards, issued in London between 1743 and 1751. The plate is lettered with the date 1749 and carries the number 115 below the image.
The bird is shown in profile on a gnarled branch above a stretch of water, its head bent sharply downward with the long black bill fixed on a small fish lying along the limb. The coloring is slate blue-gray on the back and wings, with rows of white-edged feathers, a white collar and breast, a shaggy crest, and a pinkish tinge on the bill and feet. A tuft of grass and a few pebbles at the base of a broken stump, and a pale wash of water behind, are the only setting.
Edwards, an English naturalist, drew, etched and colored his plates himself, working from specimens and living birds brought to London from many countries. The belted kingfisher is a North American species, and the plate is one of his records of birds then little known to European naturalists.
