Half-price Lizars Humming-bird antique print, Trochilus superciliosus. Jardine, c1845

$40.00

This long-tailed hermit hummingbird, Phaethornis superciliosus of Venezuela, the Guianas and north-east Brazil is a superior being by stature. 

Finely engraved, original hand-coloured steel engraving by eminent Edinburgh engraver W.H. Lizars (1788-1859), for Jardine's Naturalist's Library family of Trochilidae or Humming-Birds by Sir William Jardine. Published in London c1854. 

Under the guidance of eminent naturalists in each field, Lizars engraved over 1,200 different species of animals, fish, birds and insects. They are considered some of the finest miniature nature portraits ever done. Beautifully coloured, they effectively stand out from uncoloured engraved background habitats. Sir William Jardine, (1800-1874) was a Scottish naturalist who was particularly keen on ornithology – and also on Lizars’ sister Jane Home Lizars, whom he married.

Cropped during publishing – no doubt because of most unusual length from the end of the bird's beak to the tip of its tail, – there is also slight age-discolouration along the page extremities… but considering it is nearly 190 years old we cannot expect it to be a 'spring chicken' or 'in the flush of youth'. 160 x 95mm (6.25 x 3.75 inches).