About this sheet
This is an original antique photogravure, printed in black and gray without added color: a comparative plate of six figures showing the heads and bills of ducks, drawn large. Fig. I and Fig. II, at the top, show dark-feathered heads in side view, both bills facing right, with the lobed feathering at the base of the bill, the nostril and the fine lamellae along the edge of the upper mandible. Fig. III and Fig. IV, in the middle row, show bills seen from above, one broad and rounded at the tip with the nail and nostrils marked, the other narrower with the feathering running forward in long points on either side. Fig. V shows a bill with the mandibles held open to reveal the rows of lamellae inside, and Fig. VI a pale head with dark markings and a strongly hooked nail.
No name of any bird is printed on the plate. The figures are lettered "Fig I." to "Fig VI.", and the plate number "PLATE CXCVI." is at lower right. No scale note and no signature appear on this plate.
Charles Stonham's The Birds of the British Islands was published in London by E. Grant Richards in five volumes between 1906 and 1911, and this plate belongs to the third volume, which carries the account through the cormorants, herons, geese, swans and ducks. All of the plates are after drawings by Lilian M. Medland, who later married the ornithologist Tom Iredale and moved to Australia. Her drawings were reproduced in photogravure, a photomechanical intaglio process that keeps the soft gradations of tone of the original drawing, and the printed surface sits within a plate mark.
The clean arrangement of six studies on a plain ground gives the sheet the look of a naturalist's drawing, well suited to a study or library.
Condition: Light age toning; light handling soiling along the edges and a few small spots in the margins. Printed image clean.
This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed. Any framed or interior images are shown for presentation and inspiration only, unless the listing explicitly states that the item is sold framed.
