Watercolor of Common Curlew (Numenius Arquata), bulk: circa 1833-1866

This collection is composed of 20 watercolor plates, all which depict various birds except one of insects. The watercolors do not have any artist signatures, but they are distinctly similar to the artwork in The Naturalist’s Library, a series of books edited by William Jardine (1800-1874) and illustrated by Charles Hamilton Smith (1776-1859) and James Hope Stewart (1791-1863). Minor differences between the plates include the Archives’ plates having a background in color versus the printed book plates not having a colored background. It is unclear if one of both of the illustrators created these plates or if these plates are done as a study by an unknown artist.