"Tabuan Parakeet" from "Illustrations of the Family of Psitta, or Parrots".
1830. London: Published for the Author, 1830-1832.
Lithograph with original hand color, 360 x 530 mm, framed size 650 x 820 mm. A few trivial spots of foxing, a magnificent plate well-framed.
§ Lear was renowned as one of Britain's finest ornithological artists before his nonsense verse was ever known. The vividly-colored and quite gorgeous “Tabuan Parakeet” is from his groundbreaking work on parrots, begun when he was only 18. It was the first monograph on a single family of birds, the first imperial folio of lithographed birds completed in England, and the first painted largely from life. Lear studied his subjects at the London Zoo and at private menageries around Great Britain. The finished volume was privately issued in 12 parts and collected 42 paintings reproduced as hand-colored lithographic plates. Only 175 copies were ever completed and the stones were effaced almost immediately. Item #122716
Price: $3,750.00