This originally hand-colored engraving is from George Edwards’s A Natural History of Uncommon Birds. This first edition work was published in London in 1743.
George Edwards was an English draughtsman and proficient ornithologist. He worked as the Librarian to the Royal College of Physicians which eventually allowed him to pursue publishing his bird studies and drawings. Edward really drove the prominence of bird and animal illustration in his time and thus became known as ‘The Father of British Ornithology’.