My father-in-law was a great lover of all things in nature, especially birds. He was also an antiques dealer, so old bird books & prints were right up his alley.
Did you ever wonder where the word “Eiderdown” came from?, the soft, downy breast-feathers of Eider ducks was the feather used back in the day!
This wonderful unframed monochrome photo-gravure* (*see explanation below) plate of the male Eider duck in mating plumage was included in a first edition of the book, " Birds of the British Islands volume III ", authored by Charles Stoneham & beautifully illustrated by Lilian M. Medland, published in 1908 by Grant Richards in London. The book, given to us by my father-in-law, was in poor condition as far as book collectors go. The spine was totally broken with loose pages spilling out, but the gorgeous illustrations are in excellent shape.
My husband framed some of these prints, but is also offering some loose, unframed prints from the book. This way you can pick your own frame and matting style. This unframed original print is an adult male Eider duck at half natural scale, taken from the book. I will include at least one of the original double sided text pages from the 1908 book describing the featured bird &/or the red captioned tissue fly sheet that protected each print.,where possible.
The second picture shows the print in a mat that is for a 12 x 10 frame, the window is 10 x 8'', which seems to suit the print perfectly. Mat NOT included. The last picture shows the opening pages of the antique book this photo-gravure print was taken from (the book is not included). Once again, this photo-gravure print is taken directly out of the original book published in 1908 & is NOT a modern reprint. This 112 year old print is in excellent condition, no stains in the field.
Ms Medland was a very well known artist in her day, and she really captures the essence of the species she illustrates, with remarkable detail and poise, and the bright glistening eye is remarkable. This lovely antique piece will add charm and elegance where ever you choose to hang it. The condition is excellent, no stains or foxing in the field.
If questions please message me. I ship within 24 hours. I will combine shipping for savings with other items from my store, luckinthebox.
* Photo-gravure in its mature form was developed in 1878 by Czech painter Karel Klíč, who built on Talbot's research. This process, the one still in use today, is called the Talbot-Klič process.
Because of its high quality and richness, photo-gravure was used for both original fine art prints and for photo-reproduction of works from other media such as paintings. Photo-gravure is distinguished from rotogravure in that photo-gravure uses a flat copper plate etched rather deeply and printed by hand, while in rotogravure, as the name implies, a rotary cylinder is only lightly etched, and it is a factory printing process for newspapers, magazines, and packaging. In France the correct term for photo=gravure is hélio-gravure, while the French term photo-gravure refers to any photo-based etching technique.