Joseph Smit - Hand-coloured lithograph from G.D. Rowley’s Ornithological Miscellany - 1878

Joseph Smit, hand-coloured lithograph from G.D. Rowley’s Ornithological Miscellany (1878)

Ornithological Miscellany, of which George Dawson Rawley was the editor, appeared in 3 volumes between 1876 and 1878 and was published in Londen by Trübner and Co. The illustrations were provided by John G. Keulemans and Joseph Smit and renowned ornithologists like Dresser, Sharpe and Sclater wrote contributions.
Volume 3 of the series featured an article on the South American genus Pionus, written by P.L. Sclater (page 5). The article was accompanied by two plates by Joseph Smit. One of these two, the Pionus tumultuosus, is hereby offered.
Joseph Smit (1836-1929) was a Dutch zoological illustrator.
He received his first commission from Hermann Schlegel at the Leiden Museum to work on the lithographs for a book on the birds of the Dutch East Indies. In 1866 he was invited to Britain by Philip Sclater to do the lithography for Sclater's Exotic Ornithology; he prepared a hundred images for the book.[3]

The hand painted lithograph (artist and lithographer Jospeh Smith, printer Hanhart) measures 32 x 25 cm and is in excellent condition, as the photos show. The paper is clean, no foxing. The colours are bright.