A collection of coloured lithographs by Jacques Barraband and Pieter Barbiers, reprinted as a limited edition by Brian Chester, Sydney, 1989.

The illustrations from which the plates were made were executed by Jacques Barraband (1767-1809), arguably the best natural history artist of the time. In many cases, Barraband has imbued his subjects with a realism that makes it clear that he studied living specimens to capture their essence. His works of art, acclaimed by the savants of Europe, truly deserve to be regarded as ornithological landmarks. In 1820, Heinrich Kuhl commemorated him scientifically by naming the South American parrot illustrated on Plate 134 as Barraband’s Parrot Psittacus barrabandi.

François Le Vaillant was born in 1763 in Paramaribo in Surinam (Dutch Guiana) into a wealthy merchant family. He lived the colourful and dangerous life of an adventurer. Between 1781 and 1784 he explored southern Africa; in 1793 he was imprisoned as a suspected royalist but escaped execution following the collapse of Robespierre’s Reign of Terror. Le Vaillant published numerous works of natural history, ultimately figuring over 500 species before his death in 1824. His writings are spicy and eloquent, displaying little of the grandiloquent stylized prose of the day.

Printed as a new and improved edition of Histoire Naturelle des Perroquets from the original in the collection of Lord McAlpine of West Green. The colour plates are printed by offset lithography with additional dry and wet-trap colour and varnish. The papers are acid-free, alum-free and resin-free. All materials have an alkaline buffer to neutralize any acidity that might develop in handling or storage.

Price: please enquire

Reference: BO3-53