Francis Orpen Morris / Benjamin Fawcett - Lot of 33 plates from "History of British Birds" - 1870

Francis Orpen Morris (1810-1893). History of British Birds. London: Bell and Daldy, 1870.

Measurements: approximately 175 x 255 mm (Sheet)

Lot of 33 sheets, including 17 descriptive sheets and 16 engravings on heavy paper, mainly hand-colored, in good condition. Insured shipment via courier. Origin from a private collection.

Francis Orpen Morris (March 25, 1810 – February 10, 1893) was an Anglo-Irish clergyman, known as the 'parish priest-naturalist' (ornithologist and entomologist) and author of many children's books, as well as books on natural history and historic buildings. He was a pioneer of the movement to protect birds from the feather trade and was one of the founders of the Plumage League. He died on February 10, 1893, and was buried in Nunburnholme, East Riding of Yorkshire, England.
Morris was the eldest son of Rear Admiral Henry Gage Morris, a high-ranking officer of the Royal Navy, and Rebecca Orpen, the youngest daughter of Reverend Francis Orpen, vicar of Kilgarvan, County Kerry. Francis Orpen Morris grew up on the west coast of Ireland, where he developed a lasting love for the natural world. The entire family moved to England in 1824. After living for a while in Worcester, they settled in Charmouth, Dorset, in 1826.

Francis Orpen Morris's grandfather was Colonel Roger Morris, a member of the New York governor's council, who married George Washington's first love, Mary Philipse. Mary inherited one-third of a vast estate, the Philipse patent, 160,000 acres on the Hudson River. Roger and Mary's land was confiscated after the American Revolutionary War. Later, John Jacob Astor tracked down the three surviving children (including Henry Gage Morris) of Roger and Mary Morris—others had died without heirs—and purchased any claims they had to the land. Astor proved in court that the state had no legal right to confiscate the land in the first place. Mary had established a trust for her unborn children two weeks before marrying Roger; the Morris family had a legally binding life lease that had been passed down through generations. Astor eventually sold it to the State of New York for a huge profit. Wikipedia.

Benjamin Fawcett (Bridlington, December 1808 – January 1893) was an English engraver and color printer of the 19th century.

Selected books printed by Fawcett
A Natural History of British Birds. Reverend Francis Orpen Morris (1850-1857) 6 vols., 8vo, Groombridge.
British freshwater fish. Reverend William Houghton (two-volume set). Benjamin Fawcett [printer], A F Lydon [artist], Publisher William Mackenzie: [1879]: London. First edition xxvi, 202pp (380 x 290 mm), illustrated with 41 full-page color plates and vignette headpieces, brick red cloth, with fishing emblems. 41 color wood engravings protected by fabrics by Benjamin Fawcett of Driffield from A.F.Lydon, and another 64 wood engravings by Lydon.
Parrots in captivity. William Greene.
Alpine plants. David Wooster.
County seats of the nobility and gentry of Great Britain and Ireland. Reverend Francis Orpen Morris (1870). William Mackenzie, Ludgate Hill.