Scarlet Creeper

A$1,250 · Offered by Douglas Stewart Fine Books

Etching, 290 x 210 mm, hand coloured in gouache, a fine example, in mount. A fine etching of the Australian Scarlet Creeper from John William Lewin s A natural history of the birds of New South Wales , London : Henry H. Bohn, 1838. The naturalist and natural history artist John William Lewin arrived in New South Wales in 1800. Under the patronage of Governor King he was able to sketch and collect specimens in uncharted and exotic locations. He was allowed to join expeditions to the Hunter and to Bass Strait, as well as to make a voyage to Tahiti. His first collection of copperplate engravings, The Natural History of Lepidopterous Insects of New South Wales, was published by his brother Thomas in London in 1805. Lewin probably completed the copperplates for his Birds of New South Wales some time in 1805, and The Birds of New Holland, with their Natural History was published, again by Thomas Lewin, in London in 1808. Only six copies of this work are known to be extant, all of these, including the copy given to George III, having been distributed in London. For reasons unknown possibly fire or loss at sea the shipment of several dozen copies destined for colonial subscribers never arrived in Sydney. In the wake of this disappointment, Lewin decided to compile a colonial version of The Birds of New Holland. Without access to the original plates, which were in London, and deciding to undertake the authorship of the text to accompany the plates, Lewin was compelled to commence the

• Binding: Hardcover

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