Credit: © The Royal Society
Image number: RS.10002
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‘The Dodo, and the Guinea Pig’
Date
1757
Creator
George Edwards (1694 - 1773, British) , Ornithologist
After
Roelandt Savery (1576 - 1639, Flemish)
Object type
Library reference
38029
Material
Technique
Dimensions
height (print): 288mm
width (print): 220mm
width (print): 220mm
Subject
Content object
Description
Zoological study of the Dodo Raphus cucullatus shown with the guinea pig Cavia porcellus.
Plate 294 from chapter 84 of Gleanings of natural history, exhibiting figures of quadrupeds, birds, insects, plants, &c..., by George Edwards, volume 2 (London, for the author, 1760). The author’ s view of the Dodo was based upon an earlier work owned by him and now in the Natural History Museum, London. Edwards notes this within the text: “The original picture, from which this print of the Dodo is engraved, was drawn in Holland from the living bird, brought from St. Maurice’s island in hte East Indies, in the early times of the discovery of the Indies by way of the Cape of Good Hope. It was the property of the late Sir Hans Sloane to the time of his death; and afterwards becoming my property, I deposited it in the British Museum, as a great curiosity...The Guiney Pig, being a well-known animal with us, is placed with the Dodo only to give a true idea of its magnitude: it is drawn from life.”
The plate is inscribed: “The Dodo. Geo Edwards Sculp: AD. 1757.”
Plate 294 from chapter 84 of Gleanings of natural history, exhibiting figures of quadrupeds, birds, insects, plants, &c..., by George Edwards, volume 2 (London, for the author, 1760). The author’ s view of the Dodo was based upon an earlier work owned by him and now in the Natural History Museum, London. Edwards notes this within the text: “The original picture, from which this print of the Dodo is engraved, was drawn in Holland from the living bird, brought from St. Maurice’s island in hte East Indies, in the early times of the discovery of the Indies by way of the Cape of Good Hope. It was the property of the late Sir Hans Sloane to the time of his death; and afterwards becoming my property, I deposited it in the British Museum, as a great curiosity...The Guiney Pig, being a well-known animal with us, is placed with the Dodo only to give a true idea of its magnitude: it is drawn from life.”
The plate is inscribed: “The Dodo. Geo Edwards Sculp: AD. 1757.”
Associated place