19th Century Animal Prints

Andalusian Quail is a modern artwork realized in 1870 by the British artist Alexander Francis Lydon (1836-1917). Woodcut print on ivory-colored paper. Hand-colored, published by Lo...

Horse Team is a black and white etching realized by Frederic Jacque in the late 19th Century. The artwork represents a farmer and horses struggling with rural jobs Good condition e...

Artist: John Gould (English, 1804-1881) Title: "Aegiothus Linaria (Common Redpoll)" (Vol. 3, Plate 51) Portfolio: The Birds of Great Britain Year: 1862-1873 Medium: Original Hand-Colored Lithograph on wove paper Limited edition: approx. 750 Printer: Walter or Walter & Cohn, London, UK Publisher: Taylor and Francis, John Gould, London, UK Reference: Sauer No. 23; Ayer/Zimmer page 261; Wood page 365; Nissen No. IVB 372; Sitwell page 78 Sheet size: 21.63" x 14.75" Image size: 13.75" x 10.5" Condition: Faint UV stain to sheet. Remnants of mounting tape from previous framing on verso. Has been professionally stored away for decades. In excellent condition with strong colors Very rare Notes: Provenance: private collection - Aspen, CO. Lithography and hand-coloring by John Gould and English artist Henry Constantine Richter (1821-1902). Comes from Gould's five volume "The Birds of Great Britain", (1862-1873) (First edition), which consists of 367 hand-colored lithographs. Other contributing lithographers were German artist Joseph Wolf (1820-1899) and Irish artist William Hart (1830-1908). "The Birds of Great Britain" is recognized as Gould's greatest work. Gold gilded edges as issued. The common redpoll or mealy redpoll is a species of bird in the finch family. It breeds somewhat further south than the Arctic redpoll, also in habitats with thickets or shrubs. Biography: John Gould FRS (14 September 1804 – 3 February 1881) was an English ornithologist and bird artist. He published a number of monographs on birds, illustrated by plates that he produced with the assistance of his wife, Elizabeth Gould, and several other artists including Edward Lear, Henry Constantine Richter, Joseph Wolf and William Matthew Hart. He has been considered the father of bird study in Australia and the Gould League in Australia is named after him. His identification of the birds now nicknamed "Darwin's finches" played a role in the inception of Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection. Gould's work is referenced in Charles Darwin's book, "On the Origin of Species".

"Shooting on the Prairie" is an original hand-colored lithograph by Currier & Ives. It depicts a hunter shooting at fowl in an open field. 8 1/2" x 12 1/2" art 20 1/4" x 23 3/4" frame Nathaniel Currier was a tall introspective man with a melancholy nature. He could captivate people with his piercing stare or charm them with his sparkling blue eyes. Nathaniel was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts on March 27th, 1813, the second of four children. His parents, Nathaniel and Hannah Currier, were distant cousins who lived a humble yet spartan life. When Nathaniel was eight years old, tragedy struck. Nathaniel’s father unexpectedly passed away leaving Nathaniel and his eleven-year-old brother Lorenzo to provide for the family. In addition to their mother, Nathaniel and Lorenzo had to care for six-year-old sister Elizabeth and two-year-old brother Charles. Nathaniel worked a series of odd jobs to support the family, and at fifteen, he started what would become a life-long career when he apprenticed in the Boston lithography shop of William and John Pendleton. A Bavarian gentleman named Alois Senefelder invented lithography just 30 years prior to young Nat Currier’s apprenticeship. While under the employ of the brothers Pendleton, Nat was taught the art of lithography by the firm’s chief printer, a French national named Dubois, who brought the lithography trade to America. Lithography involves grinding a piece of limestone flat and smooth then drawing in mirror image on the stone with a special grease pencil. After the image is completed, the stone is etched with a solution of aqua fortis leaving the greased areas in slight relief. Water is then used to wet the stone and greased-ink is rolled onto the raised areas. Since grease and water do not mix, the greased-ink is repelled by the moisture on the stone and clings to the original grease pencil lines. The stone is then placed in a press and used as a printing block to impart black on white images to paper. In 1833, now twenty-years old and an accomplished lithographer, Nat Currier left Boston and moved to Philadelphia to do contract work for M.E.D. Brown, a noted engraver and printer. With the promise of good money, Currier hired on to help Brown prepare lithographic stones of scientific images for the American Journal of Sciences and Arts. When Nat completed the contract work in 1834, he traveled to New York City to work once again for his mentor John Pendleton, who was now operating his own shop located at 137 Broadway. Soon after the reunion, Pendleton expressed an interest in returning to Boston and offered to sell his print shop to Currier. Young Nat did not have the financial resources to buy the shop, but being the resourceful type he found another local printer by the name of Stodart. Together they bought Pendleton’s business. The firm ‘Currier & Stodart’ specialized in "job" printing. They produced many different types of printed items, most notably music manuscripts for local publishers. By 1835, Stodart was frustrated that the business was not making enough money and he ended the partnership, taking his investment with him. With little more than some lithographic stones, and a talent for his trade, twenty-two year old Nat Currier set up shop in a temporary office at 1 Wall Street in New York City. He named his new enterprise ‘N. Currier, Lithographer’ Nathaniel continued as a job printer and duplicated everything from music sheets to architectural plans. He experimented with portraits, disaster scenes and memorial prints, and any thing that he could sell to the public from tables in front of his shop. During 1835 he produced a disaster print Ruins of the Planter's Hotel, New Orleans, which fell at two O’clock on the Morning of the 15th of May 1835, burying 50 persons, 40 of whom Escaped with their Lives. The public had a thirst for newsworthy events, and newspapers of the day did not include pictures. By producing this print, Nat gave the public a new way to “see” the news. The print sold reasonably well, an important fact that was not lost on Currier. Nat met and married Eliza Farnsworth in 1840. He also produced a print that same year titled Awful Conflagration of the Steamboat Lexington in Long Island Sound on Monday Evening, January 18, 1840, by which melancholy occurrence over One Hundred Persons Perished. This print sold out very quickly, and Currier was approached by an enterprising publication who contracted him to print a single sheet addition of their paper, the New York Sun. This single page paper is presumed to be the first illustrated newspaper ever published. The success of the Lexington print launched his career nationally and put him in a position to finally lift his family up. In 1841, Nat and Eliza had their first child, a son they named Edward West Currier. That same year Nat hired his twenty-one year old brother Charles and taught him the lithography trade, he also hired his artistically inclined brother Lorenzo to travel out west and make sketches of the new frontier as material for future prints. Charles worked for the firm on and off over the years, and invented a new type of lithographic crayon which he patented and named the Crayola. Lorenzo continued selling sketches to Nat for the next few years. In 1843, Nat and Eliza had a daughter, Eliza West Currier, but tragedy struck in early 1847 when their young daughter died from a prolonged illness. Nat and Eliza were grief stricken, and Eliza, driven by despair, gave up on life and passed away just four months after her daughter’s death. The subject of Nat Currier’s artwork changed following the death of his wife and daughter, and he produced many memorial prints and sentimental prints during the late 1840s. The memorial prints generally depicted grief stricken families posed by gravestones (the stones were left blank so the purchasers could fill in the names of the dearly departed). The sentimental prints usually depicted idealized portraits of women and children, titled with popular Christian names of the day. Late in 1847, Nat Currier married Lura Ormsbee, a friend of the family. Lura was a self-sufficient woman, and she immediately set out to help Nat raise six-year-old Edward and get their house in order. In 1849, Lura delivered a son, Walter Black Currier, but fate dealt them a blow when young Walter died one year later. While Nat and Lura were grieving the loss of their new son, word came from San Francisco that Nat’s brother Lorenzo had also passed away from a brief illness. Nat sank deeper into his natural quiet melancholy. Friends stopped by to console the couple, and Lura began to set an extra place at their table for these unexpected guests. She continued this tradition throughout their lives. In 1852, Charles introduced a friend, James Merritt Ives, to Nat and suggested he hire him as a bookkeeper. Jim Ives was a native New Yorker born in 1824 and raised on the grounds of Bellevue Hospital where his father was employed as superintendent. Jim was a self-trained artist and professional bookkeeper. He was also a plump and jovial man, presenting the exact opposite image of his new boss. Jim Ives met Charles Currier through Caroline Clark, the object of Jim’s affection. Caroline’s sister Elizabeth was married to Charles, and Caroline was a close friend of the Currier family. Jim eventually proposed marriage to Caroline and solicited an introduction to Nat Currier, through Charles, in hopes of securing a more stable income to support his future wife. Ives quickly set out to improve and modernize his new employer’s bookkeeping methods. He reorganized the firm’s sizable inventory, and used his artistic skills to streamline the firm’s production methods. By 1857, Nathaniel had become so dependent on Jims’ skills and initiative that he offered him a full partnership in the firm and appointed him general manager. The two men chose the name ‘Currier & Ives’ for the new partnership, and became close friends. Currier & Ives produced their prints in a building at 33 Spruce Street where they occupied the third, fourth and fifth floors. The third floor was devoted to the hand operated printing presses that were built by Nat's cousin, Cyrus Currier, at his shop Cyrus Currier & Sons in Newark, NJ. The fourth floor found the artists, lithographers and the stone grinders at work. The fifth floor housed the coloring department, and was one of the earliest production lines in the country. The colorists were generally immigrant girls, mostly German, who came to America with some formal artistic training. Each colorist was responsible for adding a single color to a print. As a colorist finished applying their color, the print was passed down the line to the next colorist to add their color. The colorists worked from a master print displayed above their table, which showed where the proper colors were to be placed. At the end of the table was a touch up artist who checked the prints for quality, touching-in areas that may have been missed as it passed down the line. During the Civil War, demand for prints became so great that coloring stencils were developed to speed up production. Although most Currier & Ives prints were colored in house, some were sent out to contract artists. The rate Currier & Ives paid these artists for coloring work was one dollar per one hundred small folios (a penny a print) and one dollar per one dozen large folios. Currier & Ives also offered uncolored prints to dealers, with instructions (included on the price list) on how to 'prepare the prints for coloring.' In addition, schools could order uncolored prints from the firm’s catalogue to use in their painting classes. Nathaniel Currier and James Merritt Ives attracted a wide circle of friends during their years in business. Some of their more famous acquaintances included Horace Greeley, Phineas T. Barnum, and the outspoken abolitionists Rev. Henry Ward, and John Greenleaf Whittier (the latter being a cousin of Mr. Currier). Nat Currier and Jim Ives described their business as "Publishers of Cheap and Popular Pictures" and produced many categories of prints. These included Disaster Scenes, Sentimental Images, Sports, Humor, Hunting Scenes, Politics, Religion, City and Rural Scenes, Trains, Ships, Fire Fighters, Famous Race Horses, Historical Portraits, and just about any other topic that satisfied the general public's taste. In all, the firm produced in excess of 7500 different titles, totaling over one million prints produced from 1835 to 1907. Nat Currier retired in 1880, and signed over his share of the firm to his son Edward. Nat died eight years later at his summer home 'Lion’s Gate' in Amesbury, Massachusetts. Jim Ives remained active in the firm until his death in 1895, when his share of the firm passed to his eldest son, Chauncey. In 1902, faced will failing health from the ravages of Tuberculosis, Edward Currier sold his share of the firm to Chauncey Ives...

Chromolithograph of Ducks, laid on to contemporary card (as published). [Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1878]. Alexander Pope, Jr., was an American sculptor and painter. He’s kn...

This plate is unique both for the unmistakable beauty of the bird species and for the great scientific and artistic skill of Elisabeth and Jhon Gould to have rendered it. The price ...

Artist: John Latham (English, 1740-1837) Title: "Kamtschatkan Thrush", "Spotted-sided Grosbeak", "Crimson-bellied Flycatcher", and "Black-headed Grosbeak" Portfolio: A General History of Birds Year: 1821-1828 (second edition) Medium: Set of Four Original Hand-Colored Engravings on watermarked wove paper Limited edition: Unknown Printer: Jacob & Johnson, Winchester, UK Publisher: John Latham, Winchester, UK Reference: Brunet III, 872; Lowndes II, page 1314; Fine Bird Books page 87; Nissen IVB 532; Zimmer page 376 Sheet size (each): approx. 11.25" x 8.88" Image size (each): approx. 4.5" x 4.5" Condition: "Kamtschatkan Thrush", "Crimson-bellied Flycatcher", and "Black-headed Grosbeak" have some light offsetting to their sheets. "Spotted-sided Grosbeak" has some minor foxmarks and some light discoloration upper left in margin. They are all otherwise in very good condition with strong colors Rare Notes: Provenance: acquired from Christie's, New York, NY, December 19, 1990. Comes from Latham's famous eleven volume portfolio "A General History of Birds" (1821-1828) (second edition), which consists of 193 hand-colored prints, made from engraved plates. "Kamtschatkan Thrush" and "Crimson-bellied Flycatcher" have an unidentified "1821" watermark lower right and upper right respectively. "Spotted-sided Grosbeak" has a "1820" watermark lower right. Biography: John Latham (27 June 1740 – 4 February 1837) was an English physician, naturalist and author. His main works were A General Synopsis of Birds (1781–1801) and General History of Birds (1821–1828). He was able to examine specimens of Australian birds...

Horseman is an original etching artwork on paper realized in 1875 by Alphonse Edouard Enguérand Aufray de Roc'Bhian (French, Paris 1833– 1887). Signed on the plate on the lower of t...

Dalmation & Bull Terrier 1883-84 Chromolithograph 8.5 x 11 inches

The Milking Girl is an original modern artwork realized in 1889 by Filippo Palizzi. Original Etching. Signed and dated on plate on the lower right c...

Innocent Mrs. Cat In The Court is an original lithograph on ivory-colored paper realized by J.J. Grandville from Scènes de la vie privée et publique des animaux, 1852. Published by M...

The Bee Bride is an original lithograph on ivory-colored paper realized by J.J. Grandville from Scènes de la vie privée et publique des animaux, 1852. Published by Manesq & Harvard, ...

This plate is unique because of the bird species' unmistakable beauty and the great scientific and artistic skill with which Elisabeth and Jhon Gould rendered it. The price quoted h...

Condor is an Etching hand colored realized by Gotthilf Heinrich von Schubert - Johann Friedrich Naumann, Illustration from Natural history of birds in pictures, published by Stuttgar...

Artist: William MacGillivray (Scottish, 1796-1852) Title: "Lepidoptera (Butterflies)" (Plate XII) Portfolio: The Edinburgh Journal of Natural History, and of The Physical Sciences Ye...

The Physiognomy - The owl and peacock is an original etching artwork realized by Thomas Holloway for Johann Caspar Lavater's "Essays on Physiognomy, Designed to Promote the Knowledge...

Saccoptery's Wing is an original lithograph on ivory-colored paper, realized by Paul Gervais (1816-1879). The artwork is from The Series of "Les Trois Règnes de la Nature", and was p...

Original stone lithograph with hand-coloring from "Birds of North America." First Octavo Edition, by John James Audubon. Plate 383. Philadelphia, J.T. Bowen, ca. 1839-44.

Tamarin is an original lithograph on ivory-colored paper, realized by Paul Gervais (1816-1879). The artwork is from The Series of "Les Trois Règnes de la Nature", and was published i...

The Victory is an original lithographs by J.J. Grandville from "Scènes de la vie privée et publique des animaux, 1852. Published by Manesq & Harvard, Paris. Good Conditions but age...

The Skeleton is an original lithograph on ivory-colored paper, realized by Paul Gervais (1816-1879). The artwork is from The Series of "Les Trois Règnes de la Nature", and was publis...

The Ram And Sheep is an original colored lithograph on ivory-colored paper, realized by Paul Gervais (1816-1879). The artwork is from The Series of "Les Trois Règnes de la Nature", a...

Edward Donovan (1768–1837) was an Anglo Irish writer, natural history illustrator and amateur zoologist. Born in Cork, Ireland, Donovan was an avid collector of natural history speci...

Vampire Spectre is an original lithograph on ivory-colored paper, realized by Paul Gervais (1816-1879). The artwork is from The Series of "Les Trois Règnes de la Nature", and was pub...

The Hunting Cat is an original lithograph on ivory-colored paper, realized by Paul Gervais (1816-1879). The artwork is from The Series of "Les Trois Règnes de la Nature", and was pub...

Original lithograph hand-colored at the time of publication from "Groups of Cattle Drawn from Nature" by Thomas Sydney Cooper. Mounted on artist'...

Wild Pig and Hippopotamus is a color lithograph realized in the late 19th century by an anonymous illustrator representing a wild pig and a hippopotamus. The animals are designated ...

Mr. Cat and Miss. Fox Playing Rope Game With Little Cricket and Beetles is an original lithograph on ivory-colored paper realized by J.J. Grandville from Scènes de la vie privée et p...

The Bat is an original lithograph on ivory-colored paper, realized by Paul Gervais (1816-1879). The artwork is from The Series of "Les Trois Règnes de la Nature", and was published i...

The Bat is an original lithograph on ivory-colored paper, realized by Paul Gervais (1816-1879). The artwork is from The Series of "Les Trois Règnes de la Nature", and was published i...

The Bat is an original lithograph on ivory-colored paper, realized by Paul Gervais (1816-1879). The artwork is from The Series of "Les Trois Règnes de la Nature", and was published i...

Hunting Animals is a beautiful color lithograph realized by an anonymous artist in the late 19th century. The print, preserved in excellent conditions, shows three animals - designa...

To see our other hunting pictures, scroll down to "More from this Seller" and below it click on "See all from this Seller" and then search. after Dea...

Gymkhana Umbrella Races Rockaway Hunting Club is from the portfolio entitled Sporting Incidents: Being a Collection of sixteen plates done in color..representing the most important events of the track...

'Le Mouton de Barbarie' Copper-line engraving, circa 1765 From Buffon's "Histoire Naturelle, Generale et Particuliere Avec la Description du Cabinet du Roi" which was published in Paris. Jacques E. De Seve...

This plate is unique because of the bird species' unmistakable beauty and the great scientific and artistic skill with which Elisabeth and Jhon Gould rendered it. The price quoted h...

Stoats on a Rock is an original print realized in the late 19th century by an anonymous illustrator. Color lithograph representing a group of stoats: one has just captured a lttle b...

This set of four hand colored copper plate engravings are illustrations by early 19th century naturalist J. H. Jacob first published in Italy in 1812, and are referred to as "Jacob's...

'Race des iles Orcades et Shetland' (Breed of the Shetland and Orkney Islands) Lithograph with original hand-colouring by Hermann Eichens (1813-1886) fr...

'Killing Seals in a Cavern, Summer' Colour aquatint by Mathew Dubourg (1786-1838) after Samuel Howitt (1756/7-1822) From Samuel Howitt's 'Foreign Field Sports'. Samuel Howitt was a...

Samuel Howitt (1765-1822) after Thomas Williamson (1758-1817) Exhibition of a Battle between a Buffalo & a Tiger' from Oriental Field Sports (1819) Hand-coloured aquatint 35 x 47 cm Captain Thomas...

The Thibet Dog 1887 Etching

Red Breasted Merganser PL 58 from a rare black and white edition of Prideaux John Selby’s two volume set of 222 engravings “Illustrations of British Ornithology”. These original...

Terriers No. 1 1883-84 Chromolithograph 8.5 x 11 inches

Pair of antique color lithographs, birds, ornithology, zoology, nature. Dimensions WITH frame in cm EACH Work: 36 x 45

Artist: John Gould (English, 1804-1881) Title: "Chrysocolaptes Xanthocephalus (Yellow-faced flameback)" (Vol. 6, Plate 37) Portfolio: The Birds of Asia Year: 1850-1883 Medium: Origin...

Artist: John James Audubon (American, 1785-1851) Title: "Wilson’s Petrel - Mother Carey’s Chicken" (Plate 460, No. 92) Portfolio: The Birds of America, F...

Original hand colored engraving from "Dictionnaire Universel d'Histoire Naturelle." Paris, 1849. Sheet size: 6" w x 6" h. Displayed in a custom, archival gray mat.

This plate is unique because of the bird species' unmistakable beauty and the great scientific and artistic skill with which Elisabeth and Jhon Gould rendered it. The price quoted h...

This plate is unique because of the bird species' unmistakable beauty and the great scientific and artistic skill with which Elisabeth and Jhon Gould rendered it. The price quoted h...

Color etching. Image Size: 8 ¼ x6.” Full margins. Signed lower right Son of the famous publisher and etcher Auguste Delâtre, Eugène Delâtre was to bec...

This plate is unique because of the bird species' unmistakable beauty and the great scientific and artistic skill with which Elisabeth and Jhon Gould rendered it. The price quoted h...

This is an original 19th century John James Audubon hand-colored first octavo edition lithograph entitled "Marsh Hare", No. 4, Plate XVIII, 18, from Audubon's "Quadrupeds of North America", printed and colored by Nagel & Weingaertner and published in New York in 1849. It depicts a pair of Marsh Hares/rabbits, presumably a male and a female, lying on grass, nose to nose, with plants in the background. This antique hand-colored Audubon quadruped lithograph has a few faint spots, but the print is otherwise in very good condition. The sheet measures 7" high and 10.5" wide. The descriptive text pages, 151-156, from Audubon's original publication are included. John James Audubon (1785-1851) was a naturalist and artist. He was initially unsuccessful financially prior to the publication of his famous work “The Birds of America”, spending time in debtor’s prison...

Silvery-throated Tit - John Gould lithograph with hand-coloured size 54 cm X 37 cm excellent Condition FREE SHIPPING Accompanied by the information page from 'The Birds of Asia...

This is one of the illustrations of "Dizionario di scienze naturali" (Natural sciences dictionary) edited by Battelli nel 1831.  The work was made of 29 volumes, containing hundreds ...

This is one of the illustrations of "Dizionario di scienze naturali" (Natural sciences dictionary) edited by Battelli nel 1831.  The work was made of 29 volumes, containing hundreds ...

This is one of the illustrations of "Dizionario di scienze naturali" (Natural sciences dictionary) edited by Battelli nel 1831.  The work was made of 29 volumes, containing hundreds ...

"Townsend's Rocky Mountain Hare" is an original color lithograph by John James Audubon. This artwork features two gray hares in a muted, cool-colored landscape. 5 1/2" x 8 1/4" art...