Description
William Thomas Greene, the author of this study, also wrote The Amateur’s Aviary of Foreign Birds. He dedicated Parrots in Captivity to the printer, Benjamin Fawcett, a noted master of color woodblock printing, based in Diffield, Yorkshire, England.
Alexander Francis Lydon was a painter and draftsman who began as Fawcett’s apprentice and became his frequent collaborator. Together they produced the plates for many illustrated natural history and topographic works, including a number of works by Francis Orpen Morris, such as A History of British Birds (1851-1857) and Picturesque Views of Seats of Noblemen and Gentlemen of Great Britain and Ireland (1880). They also contributed illustrations to natural history books by other authors, such as Rev. W. Houghton’s British Fresh-Water Fishes (London: 1879).
References:
Bénézit, E. Dictionnaire critique et documentaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs et Graveurs. France: Librairie Gründ, 1966. Vol. 5, p. 670 (Lydon).
Mullens, W.H. & Swann, H. Kirke. A Bibliography Of British Ornithology. From the Earliest Times to the End of 1912, Including Bibliographic Accounts of the Principal Writers and Bibliographies of Their Published Works. 1917. reprint ed. Hitchin: Wheldon & Wesley, 1986. p. 252.
Nissen, Claus. Die Illustrierten Vogelbucher: ihre Geschichte und Bibliographie. Stuttgart: 1976. 393.
Ripley, S. Dillon and Scribner, Lynette L. Ornithological Books in the Yale University Library. 1961. reprint ed. Mansfield CT: Maurizio Martino, 1993. p. 117.
Sitwell, Sacheverell. Fine Bird Books, 1700-1900. New York: The Atlantic Monthly Press, 1990. p. 79.
Zimmer, John Todd. Catalogue of the Edward E. Ayer Ornithological Library. Zoological Series, Publ. 239-240, Vol. 16. Chicago: Field Museum of Natural History, 1926. p. 274.
In addition to the images shown above, we have numerous other prints from this series available. Please inquire as to current selection.
