Recurvirostra
avosetta imlorum by Elizabeth Albin. A Plate from Volume 1
The Hoop or Hoopoe
Hen taken from Volume 2
Brambling from Volume
3 By Eleazar Albin
Albin was a water-colourist and he taught water colour
painting as he tells us himself in the preface to ‘Natural History of Insects’ In the preface to Vol 1 of ‘The Natural History of Birds’ he also adds that he taught his daughter to ‘draw and paint after the life’ and the
illustrations are stated upon the title-page to have been carefully coloured by
his daughter and himself. I read somewhere that Albin’s pictures were heavily
criticised for being lifeless and flat and I can see why that is the case. Yet
I quite like these engravings; they are of their time. My main objection is
that all the birds look thoroughly startled!
1737 saw the publication of the single 12mo volume of ‘A Natural History of English Song-Birds,
And Such Of The Foreign As Are Usually Brought Over And Esteem’d For Their
Singing. To Which Are Added, Figures Of The Cock, Hen And Egg Of Each Species,
Exactly Copied From Nature, By Eleazar Albin, And Curiously Engraven In Copper.
Also A Particular Account How To Order The Canary-Birds In Breeding: Likewise
Their Diseases And Cure.’ I’ve read
shorter novels than this title!
Although it had a massive title it was a small book
containing just 23 hand-coloured engravings. I’ve not been able to find any
coloured plates but there must be some available for viewing on the internet.
To get a flavour of these engravings here are a couple uncoloured.
All 23 of the plates look like these. Note again the Albin
trademark startled expression on these birds. Perhaps the birds and eggs are
drawn to scale!
Other famous natural history books by Albin are: ‘A Natural
History of English Insects’, 1720. ‘A Natural History of Spiders and Other
Curious Insects’, 1736. (Written when a spider was a curious insect) and, of
course, ‘A History of Esculent Fish’, 1794 – that’s edible you know!
No comments:
Post a Comment