Joseph Smit - Hand-coloured lithograph from GD Rowley’s Ornithological Miscellany - 1878

This hand-coloured lithograph by Joseph Smit (1836-1929) is from the 1878 publication of G.D. Rowley’s Ornithological Miscellany. Ornithological Miscellany, edited by George Dawson Rawley, was issued in 3 volumes between 1876 and 1878 and published in London by Trübner and Co. Illustrations were provided by John G. Keulemans and Joseph Smit and the contributions were written by recognised ornithologists such as Dresser, Sharpe and Sclater. Volume 3 of the series included a paper on the South American genus Pionus, written by P.L. Sclater (page 5). Two plates by Joseph Smit accompanied the paper. One of these two, Pionus tumultuosus, is offered here. Joseph Smit (1836-1929) was a Dutch zoological illustrator. He received his first commission from Hermann Schlegel at the Leiden Museum to work on the lithographs for a book about the birds of Dutch East Indies. In 1866, he was invited to Britain by Philip Sclater to produce the lithography for Sclater’s Exotic Ornithology; he prepared one hundred pictures for the book. [3] This original hand-coloured lithograph is in excellent condition, as the images show. Measures 32 x 25 cm. The paper is clean, no foxing. Colours are bright.