Plate LVIII from The Ornithology of Francis Willughby, London 1678
Naturalist: Francis Willughby (1635–1672) of Middleton, Warwickshire, Fellow of the Royal Society
Edited and completed by: John Ray (1627–1705), who finished the work after Willughby's death at 36
Published: London, printed by A. C. for John Martyn, printer to the Royal Society, at the Bell in St Paul's Church-Yard, 1678
Technique: copperplate engraving on laid paper, with visible chain lines
Plate mark: 7.5 x 12.25 in (19 x 31 cm)
Sheet: 9 x 14 in (23 x 36 cm)
Six marsh and shore birds, each with its engraved name: Morinellus marinus, The Sea-Dottrell, and Oedicnemus, The Stone Curlew, with its great staring eye, across the top; Gallinula chloropus, The Waterhen or more-hen, and Iunco avis in the middle band; and at the foot Poliopus Gallinula minor beside Rallus aquaticus, The Water Rail, with its long red bill.
The stone curlew at the top right is the bird to look at. Its enormous eye is drawn accurately because it hunts at dusk on open heath, and it is now a scarce breeding bird in Britain, confined to a few protected stretches of chalk and Breckland. The water rail at the foot is the opposite sort of bird, common enough in reed beds but so skulking that most people only ever hear it. Willughby and Ray got both of them into a single sheet arranged by structure rather than by legend.
The Ornithology is the first true textbook of ornithology. Willughby and Ray threw out the folklore, the griffins and the barnacle geese hatched from shells, and built their arrangement on what the birds are actually like: bill shape, foot structure, size and habit. They divided them into land birds and water birds and worked down from there, and Linnaeus adopted the framework a century later when he wrote the Systema Naturae. Willughby died at 36 with the work unfinished, and Ray, his friend and travelling companion, gathered the notes, wrote the text and saw both the Latin edition of 1676 and this English edition of 1678 through the press. A complete copy is currently offered in the London trade at around £3,950.
Condition: very good. A strong, clean impression with the fine engraved line sharp throughout, on a bright, white sheet with untrimmed margins and only minimal toning. The sheet carries a large period crowned watermark, clearly visible when it is held to the light. The reverse is blank, so the sheet frames cleanly. Please see the photos.
This is an original 17th-century copperplate engraving, not a reproduction.
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