Background:

These beautiful chromolithograph Bird prints are from a rare volume titled "Winged Thoughts", a very good example of the "sentimental" works on natural history very popular during Victorian times.

The illustrations are by C. L. Bateman.   Mary Ann Bacon authored a poem to accompany each print.  The title of the poem is shown in parenthesis below the name of the bird.  Following is the beginning of the poem which accompanies the Dove print, titled "Peace":

     Oh lives there one who in the sylvan world
     Hath not a spot to memory consecrate,
     Where, when the tree of life grows old and gnarl'd,
     He can forget that he is desolate!

Each print is provided with the original page with the poem.

The chromolithographs were produced by a printing company started by Owen Jones (1809-1874).  Jones was an architect who made his reputation as an ornamental designer.  He is best known for his work The Grammar of Ornament.  Jones started his own lithographic firm after experiencing difficulty in finding a printer willing to undertake the work for one of his books.