Meyer, H. L. — Bird plates. Cuckoo, Cuculus canorus (Linn.).
London, the author, ca. 1835. Folio (37.2 x 27.5 cm). Well-preserved hand-painted engraving of a shy but beautiful bird and its egg. = This is a lovely hand-coloured plate from arguably the finest and most complete atlas of portraits of British avifauna ever published (see, e.g., Hale): Henry Meyer's Illustrations of British Birds (London, Longman, 1835-1850). Finely coloured by his wife, Mary Anne, or one of their daughters, Dutch-born British ornithologist Henri Leonhard Meyer (1797-1865) painted these beautiful birds of which the male is more often heard than seen. This print is in excellent condition. Some light, marginal spotting and toning, away from the images. A weak crease and a weak, marginal spot; no dents or tears present. Anker, p. 58; Hale, W. G. (2007) The Meyer's Illustrations of British Birds; Hale, W. G. (2012) The Meyer's Coloured Illustrations of British Birds and their Eggs and the Finishing of the Folio 1842-1847; C. E. Jackson, Bird Illustrators, pp. 59-62; Nissen IVB, 628; Casey Wood, p. 462.
