Rarest 1801 BARRABAND & LEVAILLANT Hand-Colored Folio Engraving LE ARACARI, MÂLE

Description: Rare 1801-1806 Hand-Colored Copper-Plate Engraving from: H I S T O I R E N A T U R E L L E DES OISEAUX DE PARADIS ET DES ROLLIERS.SUIVIEDE CELLE DES TOUCANS ET DES BARBUS, P A R F R A N Ç O I S L E V A I L L A N T L'Aracari Koulik mâle du Brésil. No. 15.(Possibly a Spot-Billed Toucanet, Selenidera maculirostris) About the Volumes: This plates originates from the publication Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux de Paradis et des Rolliers, Suivie de Celle des Toucans et des Barbus (Natural History of Birds of Paradise and Rollers: followed by Toucans and Barbets), with engraved plates after master Jacques Barraband, authored by famed French naturalist Francois Levaillant. A complete edition of these volumes is rarely offered. I find only one listed at $175,000.00. Any disbound plates appear to be highly coveted by collectors who don't readily part with them. I happen to have a few magnificent ones. Levaillant's spectacular volumes on exotic birds were & remain (until, some say, Gould), the unparalleled and most magnificent ornithological works (Fine Bird Books). The present work was originally issued in 19 parts between 1801 and 1806. The superb plates, engraved after Barraband, effortlessly capture the striking, unique characteristics and rich coloring of each exotic bird species, featuring 24 Birds of Paradise; 15 Rollers; 17 Jays; 18 Toucans, 24 Barbets, 5 Tamatias, 3 Barbacous; and 8 Jacamars. These projects transpired after Levaillant returned to France following extensive travels through Africa. Barraband provided the illustrations for Levaillant’s six-volume Histoire naturelle des oiseaux d’Afrique (1796–1808); he outdid himself with this one, & with the famous illustrations of parrot species for Histoire naturelle des perroquets, which were celebrated by contemporaries as the most lifelike renderings of birds ever made. Their strong three-dimensional quality was achieved not only through accurate drawing, but also through the combination of color printing À la poupée and further additions of color and shading, done by hand in watercolor. (Metropolitan Museum of Art). An exquisitely illustrated bird book, widely considered among the most beautiful of its kind—one of the glories of Napoleonic Science. “After he had made himself Emperor, it was part of Napoleon’s policy to initiate a series of magnificent publications that would vie with those undertaken to the orders of Louis XIV. "These were sent as presents to crowned heads, men of science, and learned bodies, in evidence of the splendours of the Empire. In this manner many glorious books came into being, and it is in this light that we should see Redouté’s Les Liliacées and his two works on the flowers of La Malmaison. The works of Levaillant owe their sumptuous character to the same impetus.” (Fine Bird Books). About the Author: François Levaillant (born Vaillant, later in life as Le Vaillant, "The Valiant", 6 August 1753 – 22 November 1824) was a French author, explorer, naturalist, zoological collector, travel writer, and noted ornithologist.He described many new species of birds based on birds he collected in Africa and several birds are named after him. He was among the first to use color plates for illustrating birds and opposed the use of binomial nomenclature introduced by Carl Linnaeus, preferring instead to use descriptive French names such as the bateleur (meaning "tumbler or tight-rope walker") for the distinctive African eagle. François Vaillant was born in Paramaribo, the capital of Dutch Guiana (Surinam), the son of Nicolas François, a French lawyer from Metz who had fled there after eloping with his mother Catherine Joséphine and then took up a position as the French Consul. Growing up amid forests, François took an interest in the local fauna, collecting birds and insects. His family returned to France in 1763. He had already begun collecting stuffed specimens, having a particular interest in birds, and went to Paris as a young man in 1777 to further his studies. The study of natural history at that time was necessarily focused on stuffed specimens, collecting in the cabinets of learned societies. Le Vaillant, though an expert taxidermist himself, found this unsatisfactory. He was as much interested in the behavior as the appearance of the creatures he studied, and resolved to travel to Africa to observe them in their natural habitat. He went to the Cape of Good Hope in 1780, at the age of 27, almost certainly sponsored by the Treasurer-General, Jacob Temminck with the understanding that he would strengthen Temminck's collection. He decided to study the bird and animal life in their natural habitat. At that time, South Africa was a relatively unknown and exotic location and he collected specimens that would establish his reputation within the scientific community until July 1784. On his return he published Voyage dans l'intérieur de l'Afrique (1790, 2 vols.), and Second voyage dans l'intérieur de l'Afrique (1796, 3 vols.). He also published Histoire naturelle des oiseaux d'Afrique (1796–1808, 6 vols.), from whence this plate came, & Histoire naturelle des oiseaux de paradis (1801–06) with drawings by Jacques Barraband.He rarely sketched the birds in their natural environment but collected the skins which were stuffed and mounted on his return. More talented artists were then commissioned to illustrate the specimens for printing. Levaillant's illustrations often influenced scientific names given by, among others, Vieillot. About the Artist: Some of the most famous of LeVaillant's illustrations were engraved after the French master painter of natural history, zoological, botanical & ornithological subjects, Jacques Barraband (1767-1809) Jacques Barraband was renowned for his rendering skills and ability to capture the life-like quality of an animal or plant on the page. He was working at the paragon of Natural History art in France, the standards were extreme, & he became perhaps the best ever at these lifelike renderings of tropical birds, even though his paintings were based on mounted specimens. His illustrations were considered the most accurate ones made during the early 1800s, the line engravings supreme.To my eye they are unsurpassed in this copperplate generated genre of Intaglio printmaking, at least until Audubon's Elephant Folios imo. He produced a stunning series of watercolors of birds and flowers between 1801 and 1804 by direct commission of Napoleon Bonaparte.Among his most famous works are those he made to illustrate François Le Vaillant's scientific studies on parrots (perroquets), birds of paradise (oiseaux de paradis), rollers (rolliers), toucans (toucans), barbets (barbus) in the present work, as well as Sugarbirds (promerops), bee-eaters (guêpiers), trogons (couroucous), and turacos (touracos). About the Plate:Every part of these prints was made by hand: Hand drawn & engraved on Copper or steel which was hand-mined, smelted & rolled, printed onto handmade cotton rag paper, inked & colored with hand-ground pigments individually by hand, & they were usually hand sewn into handmade leather-bound books.The copper-plate engraving is hand-colored in the plate À la poupée, & hand-finished with watercolors. The depth of the coloring, rending of the subtle darks, greens & greys, reds, the amber eye, is remarkable. Any individual original folio plates from these volumes are now exceedingly scarce. Plates from the Toucan series seem especially hard to find. No copies of this one are offered anywhere that I can find, & the few other single Toucan plates I've found are offered for as much as $2,260. to $5,800. Condition:Appears to be in Good condition for a centuries-old engraving. The hand-coloring appears to remain sharp & brilliant as the day it was painted. Typical age-toning & character for a print this old. Some foxing, age spots as shown. Minor handling artifacts to the right edge of paper likely from its life as a bookplate, a clean copy as these go. The subject is arrestingly sharp & perfect. These prints are very old & may have minor imperfections expected with age, such as some typical age-toning of the paper, oxidation of the old original watercolors, spots, text-offsetting, artifacts & antique character from having been bound into a book & handled, etc. Please examine the photos & details carefully.Text Page(s): This one comes without text page(s). Please note, a scan of the title page & a portrait of the author are included in the photos for reference, & aren't part of the listing... About This Gorgeous Bird:I believe this may be now known as The spot-billed toucanet (Selenidera maculirostris) in the toucan family Ramphastidae. It is found in Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay.They are included in the order Piciformes, the Picidae, which includes the woodpeckers and close relatives. The spot-billed toucanet is found in Brazil from the states of Bahia and Minas Gerais south and into eastern Paraguay and Argentina's Misiones Province. It is a bird of the Atlantic Forest where it is found in old-growth and secondary forest, selectively logged and remnant forest, palm groves, and gallery forest at the edges of the cerrado. In elevation it ranges from sea level to at least 1,000 m (3,280 ft).Despite the fact that the population trend appears to be decreasing, the decline is not believed to be sufficiently rapid to approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population trend criterion, so far.The mating ritual is apparently a fun-loving affair for toucans, as they throw fruit to one another. Size: 20-3/4" x 13-1/2" inches approximately. Combined Shipping: Yes! Multiple prints can be combine into one Priority Mail package. Larger prints may need to be shipped in tube. eBay should auto-combine your items if you put all of your selections into your shopping cart & check out all together as one order. If you purchase them individually, eBay charges shipping on each. If you're assessed multiple shipping charges for one combined package, I will endeavor to refund any overage asap. For International Combined Shipping through eBay's International Shipping Program, Please Note: At the moment, I've been offering eBay's International Shipping Program. This new shipping program has some advantages since they manage the customs forms, etc. But it apparently has some bugs, It won't allow me to refund shipping overages for individual purchases. So please note: The only way their international shipping program allows combined shipping, is if you put all the items in your cart & check out at once. Otherwise it requires me to ship each item separately in it's own package with its own label. Ebay's International Shipping doesn't allow 'Best Offer' for combined shipping since 'best-offer' requires individual checkout, which then can't be combined in this program (I don't get it either...). So if shipping multiple items in one package is important, the only way it works in eBay's International Shipping Program is if you load them all into your cart, without best-offer, & check out at once. If I accept a best offer for international buyers, the items won't be able to be combined for one shipping cost... Insurance: USPS Priority Mail typically insures a Priority Mail package or envelope for a maximum of $100. If the value of your combined purchase goes over that, I may not always be able to absorb this cost, they do allow me to add the additional insurance cost to cover the additional value. I do pack very carefully. In the extremely rare case that USPS damages anything in transit, the best way to be refunded for your purchase is to actually take your physical package to the Post Office & file a claim. It gets tedious to try to document & file a claim from my end, but I'll do my best to help ~ Thanks for Visiting!

Price: 595 USD

Location: Great Barrington, Massachusetts

End Time: 2025-01-17T23:35:46.000Z

Shipping Cost: N/A USD