Loading Spinner
Don’t miss out on items like this!

Sign up to get notified when similar items are available.

Lot 37: John William Lewin (1770-1819)

Est: $8,520 USD - $12,780 USD
Christie'sLondon, United KingdomNovember 28, 2001

Item Overview

Description

A Natural History of the Birds of New South Wales, collected, engraved, and faithfully painted after nature, by... Lewin, A.L.S. late of Parramatta, New South Wales. London: G. Schulze for J.H. Bohte, 1822 [text watermarked 1821, plates watermarked 1826]. 2o (366 x 265mm). 26 hand-coloured etched plates by Lewin. Contemporary half red straight-grained morocco, paper letterpress title label mounted on upper cover, titled in gilt on spine (neat repairs to head and foot of spine, modern endpapers). A fine copy of the third edition of Lewin's Birds of New Holland (1808), seen through the press by his widow Maria Lewin and including eight new plates (plates VII and XIX-XXV). John Lewin was the son of ornithological artist William Lewin (1747-1795) and arrived in Australia on 11 January 1800. 'He decided to emigrate to New South Wales, with his wife Maria, and was equpped with an entomologist's outfit by Dru Drury, to be repaid by specimens of Australian insects on his arrival in the colony. His wife got on the ship he intended to embark on, but he missed the sailing and so she had to survive in the colony alone until he arrived... He wrote a book Prodromus Entomology, 1805 and then prepared 18 plates... for his Birds of New Holland with their Natural History, printed in London 1804-08. In 1813 a few copies were printed in Sydney under the new title Birds of New South Wales and this was the first illustrated natural history book published in Australia and the earliest book of any kind with etched illustrations to be published there... After his death [in Sydney in 1819], Maria (who had drawn plants for his illustrations) took their son William Arden... to England where she saw a third edition of his birds of New South Wales through the press in 1822... In London, T.C. Eyton issued a fourth edition... in 1838' (C. Jackson Dictionary of Bird Artists p.336). BM (NH) III, p.1104; Ferguson 873; Nissen IVB 561; Whittell p.442; Zimmer p.394.

Artist or Maker

Auction Details

NATURAL HISTORY

by
Christie's
November 28, 2001, 12:00 AM EST

8 King Street, St. James's, London, LDN, SW1Y 6QT, UK