Garrulax Perspicillatus

Click the picture for image
of complete lithograph

The bird in the lithograph is the Garrulax Perspicillatus. Several specimens were taken in Macao, China.

This is a hand-colored lithograph. Other lithographs in the Narrative have color but they were not hand-colored. Rather, they were printed with color in the lithograph process. The Narrative contains only 12 hand-colored lithographs (6 birds, 4 scenes, 2 shells) and they are all found in volume II. There are also 10 steel engravings (fish) in volume II.

Volume II of the Narrative is composed of a series of reports, most by expedition members on the topography, geology, botany, agriculture, and resources of the countries visited.

This hand-colored lithograph is from the section entitled Birds, B. -- Birds Collected in China, The Loo Choo Islands, the Islands of Singapore and Ceylon, and on the Coast of California.. This report in Volume II was prepared by John Cassin, a member of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences. Cassin was this country's first serious bird taxonomist and is considered by many naturalists the most informed ornithologist of his era in the United States. The titles/lettering read:

• Litho of Wm E Hitchcock Philada


• Plate 4_ Ornithology (upper left)


• GARRULAX PERSPICILLATUS_GMELIN (bottom)

No staining problems. Pieces missing on three of the four margins. Significant tear from the bottom upward on the bottom right margin. Another similar tear on the upper left margin. Despite these problems, the image area of the lithograph is bright with sharp crisp colors. The lithograph would mat and frame very nicely. Very light text foxing on the face. Paper is on the brittle side. Paper thickness is 8.5mm.

Portrait Format

Page Size (cm): 28.7x22.3cm

Image Size (cm): Width-14.4, Height-18.5, Diagonal-23.0 (ca)