1794 Hand-Colored Aquatint. Ornithology. Wry Neck Bird

-- No Secret Reserve Price --

________________

A Hand-Colored Aquatint Etching from London

"The Wry Neck"

Painted, Engraved & Published: January 1794

By T. Lord

Platemark Size: 300 x 210 mm ( 11-3/4 x 8-1/4 inches)

Sheet Size: 365 x 265 mm  (14-3/8 x 10-3/8 inches)

Wry Neck Bird:

(It can Rotate its Head 180 Degrees.)

________________________________________

Closeup Detail

_________________________________________

Caption in Lower Margin:  TheWry Neck

_____________________________________________________

Painted, Engraved & Published:  January 1794

_______________________________________

The Wry Neck:   by T. Lord, Maiden Lane, Covent Garden (London)

____________________________________

...the mysterious bird that gave us the word "jinx."

___________________________________

This European bird is the Eurasian wryneck bird ( Jynx torquilla ). These birds are in the woodpecker family.

The wry neck gets its name from its ability to turn its head 180 degrees.  This unusual behavior led to their association with witchcraft.  The bird's scientific name "Jynx" became familiar in occult terminology as the word "jinx", meaning a spell or hex.

These birds eat ants and insects in decaying wood, as shown in this 1794 etching.

I do not have much information about the origins of this etching.  Perhaps this etching was assoicated with the book The Birds of Great Britain, by the natural history artist William Lewin, whose first edition was published in London 1789-1794.   

This ornithology etching is printed in wove paper.  The color is hand-painted.  The reverse side of the etching is blank.                     

Condition: Very Nice Condition:  No institution or library markings. Paper is bright and clean, with No foxing or stains. The right margin has 3 tiny, clean tears, which do not enter the plate mark: one is half-inch in length and the other 2 are quarter-inch in length. Very nice condition throughout.

---- -- Propay

Free shipping.  Priority mail. 

I Will Mail to Any Country.  Free airmail.

Prompt Shipping--I Mail the Day After I Receive Payment.

Shipping by Post Office, Unless Other Shipping Requested.

Pennsylvania Buyers add 6 % Sales Tax, or Send Tax Number.

Offered by:  Lee Jay Stoltzfus - Your Family Heirlooms

Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. U.S.A.

27 Lititz Run Road.   Lititz, PA 17543

Telephone: (717) 371-7320

Send e-mail to me here, if you have questions.

Satisfaction guaranteed, or you are welcome to return purchase.