Background:

These unique Bird prints are from one of the earliest natural history folios in our collection - The British Museum or Elegant Repository of Natural History by Holloway and Branch.  In describing the prints in this collection, the Preface to the Repository states "The novel style in which characteristic traits are thrown into the prints, convey more forcibly than words can, the manner of life, or properties of every animal, and is an acknowledged improvement on the statue-like engravings with which works of this sort are usually adorned."

The prints were initially produced through a wood-block engraving process and then hand colored.  Typically a gum arabic solution would be applied over the hand-coloring to preserve the image.