Prideaux John Selby: 10 hand coloured Lithographs from Illustrations of British Ornithology (1841) Prideaux John Selby, the son of a wealthy landowner, was well educated and led a privileged life. As a boy he had much time to devote to the study of plant and animal life, and pursued his interests as a naturalist and artist. Educated at Oxford, Selby was to become a gentleman naturalist, with a passion for natural history and ornithology, whose superb abilities as an artist and scholar resulted in him becoming a central figure in the British scientific community of the early 19th Century. Selby spent countless hours studying birds in their natural habitat, making careful notes of their every movement, and later using this information to create his beautiful life sized coloured drawings. Selby was a highly skilled etcher who etched his drawings on copper plates, and used Lizars’ engravers and colourists for the finishing and printing of the plates. The result, Selby’s “Illustrations of British Ornithology”, was what is considered to be the English equivalent of “Audubon’s Birds”, with Selby’s etchings ranking with Audubon and Gould’s works as some of the finest bird prints ever produced. Selby’s is the only work, other than Audubon’s, to depict every bird in it’s actual size, and consequently is the largest bird folio other than Audubon’s. His “Illustrations of British Ornithology” was originally issued as a series by subscription in 19 parts from 1824-1834, and consisted of 89 plates of land birds and 129 plates of water birds. The work was later re-issued from 1841-1846, published in London by Henry Bohn, on J. Whatman paper. The plates offered here are from the 1841 re-issue, as the watermark in the paper tells. The plates, measure 69x55cm and are hand coloured lithographs. The condition is very good, only very minor foxing and no folds or tears in the paper. The images are clean and bright. The following plates are offered Plate XXXI (31): Jack-daw and Magpie Plate XXXIII (33): Nutcracker Plate XXXVI (36): Sterling and Rose-coloured Pastor Plate L (50): Sky Lark and Wood Lark Plate LIII (53): Parrot Crossbill and Lesser Redpole Plate LIII* (53*): Crossbill Plate LV (55): Hawfich, Tree Sparrow, Common Linnet (m&f), Mountain Linnet, Siskin (m&f), Goldfinch (m&f) Plate LVI (56): Stock Dove and Wood Dove Plate LVI* (56*): Ring Dove and Turtle Dove Plate LIX (59): Grouse and Ptarmigan