Details
A Museum Quality facsimile print. Indistinguishable from the original. We offer a true quality nobody has; and for a price nobody is offering you for a comparable quality. This print was photographed using the latest technology, colour matched to the original illustration and then reproduced at the original plate size.
Title:Brachyurus Nympha
Subtitle: Fairy Pitta
Publication : A Monograph of the Pittidae or Family of Ant Thrushes
Author: Daniel Giraud Elliot (1835-1915)
Artist: Drawn from Nature by D. G. Elliot F.Z.S.
Paper size:48.0 x 59.0 cm; 18.1/2 x 23.1/2 inch
Edition: The edition will be limited to 150 prints, numbered 1/150 to 150/150, signed and stamped with a blind embossing.
Certificate of Authenticity: On demand
Original: 31 fine hand-coloured lithographic plates, heightened with gum arabic, after Elliot (24), Paul Louis Oudart (4), E. Maubert (1), A.Mesnel (1) and one unsigned.
A fine copy of the first edition. A rare and spectacular ornithological work, the first book by Elliot with his own illustrations, and the scarcest of his major monographs.
'Elliot was not his own painter, except among the Pittas. Early in his career, in 1863, he had brought out his book on the Pittidae, or Ant-Thrushes with plates of a delightful... character, after his own drawings.' ( Fine Bird Books ). Elliot's chosen illustrator, Paul Louis Oudart, died after completing only 3 or 4 plates, and rather than risk a hurried instruction to another artist, Elliot 'felt compelled to turn draughtsman myself' (Preface) and executed all of the other drawings, bar one each by Maubert and Mesnel. The illustrations and indeed the birds themselves represent the pinnacle of Elliot's pictorial work. When a second edition of this work was issued, most of the plates were redrawn by John Gould's artist, William Hart, and the text was completely rewritten. The Pittidae described are native to Borneo, Nepal, Ceylon, the Philippines, New Guinea, and Cambodia amongst other places. Their plumage is rendered in vibrant shades of blues, greens and reds, and the birds (many of whom are shown feeding their young) are placed against beautifully drawn landscapes. Elliot was also careful to ensure that the flowers and foliage shown in detail with the birds were appropriate for the species shown.
Source of the original : This Heritage Facsimile Edition print is made from an extremely well-preserved early museum original subscription which has been cared for in the hands of this one owner only – Teylers Museum (the oldest museum of the Netherlands).
Museum Quality: The proofs of our prints are carefully compared and corrected with the originals and the final prints always have the original size. As a result, the naked eye is unable to distinguish the originals from the facsimile prints behind glass.
Durability: To ensure the durability, our facsimiles are printed on 268 g/m acid-free white-edged paper with archive inks. Each facsimile has it all: every incredibly fine line detail of every lithographic plate or engraving; every delicate brushstroke of every original ; even the subtle signs of character and patina the paper shows after 150 years.
